As i have posted, we can deliver massive energy in the form of liberated static electrons with zero fuss. This makes all other forms of energy generation utterly obsolete. However, we do need low cost heat engines such as this system. Even better, the thorium cycle is also ideal for consuming all the waste radioactive we are presently storing. First though we need a deliverable reactor system and this appears to solve the problem.
The good news is that we have a reactor. The bad news is that its primary use will be consumption of radioactive nasties. Heat will be a bonus but revenue will be in disposal.
Why this works is simplicity itself. Thorium itself decays into completely safe isotopes available in nature. during this process it releases a steady bath of neutrons. Thus adding in other nasty isotopes allows for neutron bombardment and a steady reduction in the activity level as the nasties are converted to lesser isotopes.
It will still take many years but every such plant can be steadily fed waste uranium and even plutonium among others. Eventually we will run out of such fuel and the balance will be degraded to a far safer level if not totally inert.
Beside i expect to find shortcuts before i am finished anyway.
Cheap, Reliable, CO2-free Electricity, Now.
The ThorCon Nuclear Island. This entire structure is underground.
http://thorconpower.com/
ThorCon is a simple molten salt reactor. Unlike all current reactors, the fuel is in liquid form. If the reactor overheats for whatever reason, ThorCon will automatically shut itself down, drain the fuel from the primary loop, and passively handle the decay heat. There is no need for any operator intervention. In fact there is nothing the operators can do to prevent the drain and cooling. ThorCon is walkaway safe.
The ThorCon reactor is 30 m underground. ThorCon has four gas tight barriers between the fuelsalt and the atmosphere. Three of these barriers are more than 25 m underground. Unlike nearly all current reactors, ThorCon operates at near-ambient pressure. In the event of a primary loop rupture, there is no dispersal energy and no phase change. The spilled fuel merely flows to a drain tank where it is cooled. The most troublesome fission products, including strontium-90 and cesium-137, are chemically bound to the salt. They will end up in the drain tank as well.
No New Technology
ThorCon is all about NOW. ThorCon requires no new technology. ThorCon is a straightforward scale-up of the successfulMolten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). The MSRE is ThorCon’s pilot plant. There is no technical reason why a full-scale 250 MWe prototype cannot be operating within four years. The intention is to subject this prototype to all the failures and problems that the designers claim the plant can handle. This is the commercial aircraft model, not the Nuclear Regulatory Commission model. As soon as the prototype passes these tests, full-scale production can begin.
Rapidly Deployable
The entire ThorCon plant including the building is manufactured in blocks on a shipyard-like assembly line. These 150 to 500 ton, fully outfitted, pre-tested blocks are barged to the site. A 1 GWe ThorCon will require less than 200 blocks. Site work is limited to excavation and erecting the blocks. This produces order of magnitude improvements in productivity, quality control, and build time. ThorCon is much more than a power plant; it is a system for building power plants. A single large reactor yard can turn out one hundred 1 GWe ThorCons per year.
Fixable
No complex repairs are attempted on site. Everything in the nuclear island except the building itself is replaceable with little or no interruption in power output. Rather than attempt to build components that last 40 or more years in an extremely harsh environment with nil maintenance, ThorCon is designed to have all key parts regularly replaced. Every four years the entire primary loop is changed out, returned to a centralized recycling facility, decontaminated, disassembled, inspected, and refurbished. Incipient problems are caught before they can turn into casualties. Major upgrades can be introduced without significantly disrupting power generation. Such renewable plants can operate indefinitely; but, if a ThorCon is decommissioned, the process is little more than pulling out but not replacing all the replacable parts.
Cheaper than Coal
ThorCon requires less resources than a coal plant. Assuming efficient, evidence based regulation, ThorCon can produce reliable, carbon free, electricity at between 3 and 5 cents per kWh depending on scale.
No comments:
Post a Comment