Why are we not using thorium reactors if they are better in every way?
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Nuclear engineer here. They are not better in hardly any way. The amount of hype surrounding thorium astounds me.
We tried using thorium. The first core in Indian Point 1 nuclear plant had thorium in it. The second core had no thorium because it was cheaper to leave it out. We are not using thorium right now because there is no good reason to.
The things you’ve heard about how thorium is way more sustainable and can’t make bombs are misleading at best and all out wrong at worst.
I wrote up a whole page explaining all this in detail back in 2014 to try to nip the thorium thing in the bud. https://whatisnuclear.com/thorium-myths.html
Nuclear engineer here. They are not better in hardly any way. The amount of hype surrounding thorium astounds me.
We tried using thorium. The first core in Indian Point 1 nuclear plant had thorium in it. The second core had no thorium because it was cheaper to leave it out. We are not using thorium right now because there is no good reason to.
The things you’ve heard about how thorium is way more sustainable and can’t make bombs are misleading at best and all out wrong at worst.
I wrote up a whole page explaining all this in detail back in 2014 to try to nip the thorium thing in the bud. https://whatisnuclear.com/thorium-myths.html
We built the prototypes, rulebooks, supply chains for uranium reactors long ago, much of it with military money. We’d have to do the equivalent, a massive effort, to develop thorium now. Thorium might involve liquid fuels, something quite new in nuclear.
It’s unclear that thorium would be better in many ways. And nuclear in general is losing the cost competition to renewables and storage.
We built the prototypes, rulebooks, supply chains for uranium reactors long ago, much of it with military money. We’d have to do the equivalent, a massive effort, to develop thorium now. Thorium might involve liquid fuels, something quite new in nuclear.
It’s unclear that thorium would be better in many ways. And nuclear in general is losing the cost competition to renewables and storage.
We don’t know (for sure) how to build them effectively. We built uranium reactors with military research. You can’t make bombs with thorium.
I had physics professor tell me there were concerns about clogging/corrosion in the cooling lines because of how they’d have to be made.
We don’t know (for sure) how to build them effectively. We built uranium reactors with military research. You can’t make bombs with thorium.
I had physics professor tell me there were concerns about clogging/corrosion in the cooling lines because of how they’d have to be made.
They are illegal in the US, as they are classified as breeder reactors. That’s mostly why, it was a knee jerk move in response to the threat of dirty bombs.
They are illegal in the US, as they are classified as breeder reactors. That’s mostly why, it was a knee jerk move in response to the threat of dirty bombs.
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