Whatever the outcome, it is
certain that we will soon have thorium based reactors in place. This is extremely good news as these reactors
are ideal for consuming other waste radioisotopes such as plutonium. Thus even if the heat engine business is
dominated by the Rossi Focardi reactor there will remain a market for thorium
rectors to assist in the elimination of the huge remaining stockpiles of
uranium and uranium derived waste products.
If for whatever reason we do not
get a better energy source, thorium is certainly superior to what is available
using uranium protocols and the transition to thorium will run to completion
driven by the growing desire to eliminate the uranium fuel cycle.
Use of relatively low-carbon, low-radioactivity thorium instead of
uranium may be breakthrough in energy generation
Maseeh Rahman in
Mumbai
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1
November 2011 16.09 GMT
Engineers at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai , India .
Photograph: Pallava Bagla/Corbis
Officials are currently selecting a site for the reactor, which would
be the first of its kind, using thorium for the bulk of its fuel instead of
uranium – the fuel for conventional reactors. They plan to have the plant up
and running by the end of the decade.
The development of workable and large-scale thorium reactors has for
decades been a dream for nuclear engineers, while for environmentalists it has
become a major hope as an alternative to fossil fuels. Proponents say the fuel
has considerable advantages over uranium. Thorium is more abundant and
exploiting it does not involve release of large quantities of carbon dioxide,
making it less dangerous for the climate than fossil fuels like coal and oil.
In a rare interview, Ratan Kumar Sinha, the
director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, told
the Guardian that his team is finalising the site for construction of the new
large-scale experimental reactor, while at the same time conducting
"confirmatory tests" on the design.
"The basic physics and engineering of
the thorium-fuelled Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) are in place, and the
design is ready," said Sinha.
Once the six-month search for a site is completed – probably next to an
existing nuclear power plant – it will take another 18 months to obtain
regulatory and environmental impact clearances before building work on the site
can begin.
"Construction of the AHWR will begin after that, and it would take
another six years for the reactor to become operational," Sinha added,
meaning that if all goes to plan, the reactor could be operational by the end
of the decade. The reactor is designed to generate 300MW of electricity – about
a quarter of the output of a typical new nuclear plant in the west.
Sinha added that India
was in talks with other countries over the export of conventional nuclear
plants. He said India
was looking for buyers for its 220MW and 540MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors
(PHWRs). Kazakhastan and the Gulf states are
known to have expressed an interest, while one source said that negotiations
are most advanced with Vietnam ,
although Sinha refused to confirm this.
"Many countries with small power grids of up to 5,000 MW are
looking for 300MW reactors," he said. "Our reactors are smaller, cheaper,
and very price competitive."
Producing a workable thorium reactor would be a massive breakthrough in energy generation. Using thorium –
a naturally occurring moderately radioactive element named after the Norse god
of thunder – as a source of atomic power is not new technology. Promising early
research was carried out in the US
in the 1950s and 60s and then abandoned in favour of using uranium.
The pro-thorium lobby maintains this was at least partly because
national nuclear power programmes in the US and elsewhere were developed
with a military purpose in mind: namely access to a source of plutonium for
nuclear weapons. Unlike uranium, thorium-fuelled reactors do not result in a
proliferation of weapons-grade plutonium. Also, under certain circumstances,
the waste from thorium reactors is less dangerous and remains radioactive for
hundreds rather than thousands of years.
That is a considerable plus for governments now worried about how to
deal with nuclear waste and
concerned about the possibility of rogue governments or terrorists getting
their hands on plutonium. Also, with the world's supply of uranium rapidly
depleting, attention has refocused on thorium, which is three to four times
more abundant and 200 times more energy dense..
"Given India 's
abundant supply of thorium it makes sense for her to develop thorium
reactors," said Labour peer Baroness Worthington who is patron of the Weinberg Foundation, which promotes thorium-fuelled nuclear power.
She added: "However, many of the advantages of thorium fuel are
best realised with totally new reactor designs such as the molten salt reactor
developed Alvin Weinberg in the 60s. I hope India will also commit to exploring
this option."
There are still restrictions though. One problem is the "trigger
fuel" the reactor needs to initiate operation. In the original design,
this is a small quantity of plutonium. Instead the new reactor's trigger will
be low-enriched uranium (LEU) – which India is permitted to import under
the 2008 Indo-US deal.
"The AHWR will eventually have design flexibility, using as fuel
either plutonium-thorium or LEU-thorium combinations," said Sinha.
"The LEU-thorium version will make the AHWR very much marketable abroad,
as it would generate very little plutonium ... making it suitable for countries
with high proliferation resistance."
The LEU-thorium design is currently at pilot stage. For the first time
last year, the BARC tested the thorium-plutonium combination at its critical
facility in Mumbai, but is still some way from doing the same for the
thorium-LEU combination.
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