Thorium as a Nuclear

Energy Source
FABIAN BALYEJJUSA (U204N2801)
 Table of contents
1. Conventional Nuclear energy process
2. Rankine Cycle
3. Shortcomings of U-235
4. Thorium Overview
5. U-233
6. U-233 Advantages
7. Liquid Fluoride Nuclear Reactor
8. Advantages and Disadvantages of Thorium
9. Conclusion
What is the conventional nuclear energy
process
● Uranium-235 (U-235) is the most common fuel source used
● Nuclear fission (the breakdown of the element into a lighter element) is the main
mechanism through which the heat that makes steam
● This nuclear fission occurs in a nuclear reactor, which is a controlled environment that can
control the amount of breakdown that occurs ( to a certain extent)
● A heat exchanger mechanism is the driver used to generate power
● Follows Rankine cycle
Usual Nuclear
Reactor Process
● Kinetic energy from nuclear fission releases thermal
energy
● The reactor also absorbs some of the gamma rays
produced and this is turn, produces additional heat
● This thermal energy heats up the liquid surrounding it
(could be water or molten salt usually)
● This heated liquid travels into another tank and when
it does this, it heats up the water in that tank into
steam.
● This steam is then used to drive a turbine
● Electricity is generated
Rankine Cycle
● Thermodynamic Cycle similar to
the Carnot Cycle except the
vapour is superheated
● Ideal cycle for vapors
● Contains two isentropic
processes and two isobaric
processes
● Due to running on this cycle, the
overall efficiency can be
increased with superheating the
steam, higher boiling pressures
● Brayton cycle may be used
because of less environmental
impact but requires higher
operating conditions
Shortcomings of using U-235
● Not as abundant as people think it is
● (Technically) Non-renewable
● Enrichment is usually required
● In the case of a nuclear accident, the U-235 will keep breaking down no matter what
● Fuel Burn-Up that increases with the level of enrichment
What is Thorium?
● 90th element in periodic table
● It is approximately 3 times more abundant
than U-235
● (FUN FACT): It has a half-life of 14.05 billion
years
● It is also WEAKLY radioactive(?)
● Not generally considered fissionable
 ●
Why While Thorium in its natural state is weakly radioactive, IT
CAN BE USED TO CREATE A NUCLEAR FUEL

Thorium if
● USUAL DECAY: Alpha decay and starts a chain reaction(but
this takes a long time) which stops at Pb(Lead- a stable
element that doesn’t require more fission)
weakly ● IF IRRADIATED BEFORE: Usual chain reaction (from Neutron
capture- it gets heavier instead of getting lighter) to make U-
radioactive? 233
What is U-233?
● Has a half-life of 160,000 years
● A fissionable material (a
substance that is capable of
breaking down via nuclear
fission)
● This is through the neutron
absorption by fertile Thorium
Advantages of U-233
● The daughter products from its further fission(Bismuth-
213 and actinium-225) are useful in other applications
● Works well in a liquid fuel reactor
● Produces dramatically less nuclear waste than U-235
● U-233 has an energy density of 79,420,000 MJ/Kg. Coal
has an energy density of 24MJ/Kg. U-235 is 79,390,000
MJ/Kg
 The general nuclear
power process
1. Fertile Thorium converted to fissile
Uranium-233 (through neutron
absorption)
2. This process creates immense heat,
which heats up the molten salt
(transferring heat away from the core)
3. Molten salt flows in a heat exchanger
(hot liquid) and heats up water (cooling
liquid) to a superheated steam
4. This steam drives a turbine that
generates electricity
5. Vapour goes into another heat
exchanger, turns into condensed liquid
and the process restarts. Molten salt
goes back to the fuel reactor
Features of the Liquid Thorium Reactor Process
● The fission products are continuously removed throughout the process – this is important because
the materials that cannot help with the fuel generation are removed. This continually keeps high
performance levels
● Using liquid fuel helps in this process as fission products can easily be removed from the mixture.
● The main component of the molten salts (fluoride salts) aren’t affected too much by radiation and
can operate within the high temperatures required for this generation process. It is susceptible to
radiation at very low temperatures
● The freeze plug acts as a safety mechanism where if cooling doesn’t work, the freeze plug melts and
the fuel drains into a storage that’s cooled to very low temperatures. The tank also shields against
excess radiation
Advantages of using Thorium

MUCH MORE NO NEED FOR LESS NUCLEAR DUE TO ITS WEAK SINCE IT’S NOT VERY DIFFICULT TO
ABUNDANT THAN ENRICHMENT WASTE PRODUCED RADIOACTIVITY, FISSILE (BUT MAKE A NUCLEAR
U-235 (SINCE ITS ORE IS FROM USING IT TO THE EXTRACTION FERTILE), IN THE WEAPON OUT OF
HIGHLY MAKE U-233 PROCESS ISN’T AS CASE OF NUCLEAR IT
CONCENTRATED) DANGEROUS ACCIDENTS, THE
REACTION
PROCESS WON’T
SIMPLY CONTINUE
BREAKING DOWN
Disadvantages of Thorium

Even though more abundant than Very little real-world experience The process to make U-233 is
U-235, it is still very costly to with Thorium much more radioactive than the
extract it from its ore(monazite) general energy extraction of U-235
CONCLUSION
● Although not in large production, there is huge potential for thorium as the main nuclear energy source
● It is generally safer, cleaner and more technologically advanced when used compared to the general
nuclear process
● Despite all the advantages, the only main disadvantages is that it is currently very expensive to extract
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