life - sustaining.... energy thorium energy from thorium october 20, 2009 kim l johnson cheminnovar...

Life-Sustaining . . . . Energy from Thorium

October 20, 2009

Kim L Johnson

ChemInnovar LLC

“Sustainable Feeds, Fuels & Energy through Innovative Chemistry”

With much credit due to: Kirk Sorensen,* Dr. Joseph Bonometti, and Dr. David LeBlanc

*www.EnergyfromThorium.com

LFTR* – Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium *Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (Lîfter | LifTôr)

2

It’s about Energizing the Earth Sustainably

with LFTR

What on . . Earth is

LFTR ?

Kim L Johnson - ChemInnovar, LLC 10/20/2009


3

Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium

LFTR:• Short for “Liquid-fluoride Thorium Reactor”*• Fueled by a nearly Forgotten Resource• Less Expensive long-term than any Fossil Fuel• ~ In f in i te ly~ more Sustainable

Thorium – the Best & most Abundant source of “Life-Sustaining” Energy

– Not just for Society today but for our planetEarth itself right now as well!

Why / How use Thorium for Energy?


*(Although English speakers tend to pronounce LFTR as Lîfter, for most who are native to other Languages

LifTôr is probably the easiest way to say it and remember the “Liquid-fluoride Thôrium reactor.”)

4

Who uses the oil?

Nations Sized Proportionally to Oil Reserves

Kim L Johnson - ChemInnovar, LLC 10/20/2009 LFTR* – Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium *Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (Lîfter | LifTôr)


Oil: ever-tightening supply Worldwide


5

31.1 Billion barrels Oil (180 quads*)

In 2007, the World Consumed:*5.3 Billion tonnes Coal (128 quads)

Coal consumed contained

~16,000,000 kg Thorium!

2.92 Trillion m3 Natural Gas (105 quads)

Hydroelectric (29 quads) Year U.S. World

2010 108 510

2020 121 613

2030 134 722* = 1 Quadrillion BTU = 172 Million Barrels Oil

Projected Energy Demand (quads)**

Energy usage Dominated by Hydrocarbons

65,000 t Natural Uranium (U3O8 Yellowcake, only 25 quads)


How can Thorium help with the ever-growing

Global Energy Demand?

*Orange asterisks indicate there are references, calculations, etc in Notes below.


LFTR* – Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium *Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (Lîfter | LifTôr) 6

The Binding Energy of Matter

Single-Digit eV’s for Electrons (the light particles whizzing around the nucleus)

Millions of eV’s for Nucleons (the Neutrons & Protons making up the nucleus)

Measured in Electron Volts or eV’s




7

Binding Energy vs Atomic Mass

Iron-56 (Fe-56) has the most stable nucleus of all the abundant nuclei found in the Universe

1 MeV of Energy/Nucleon from Fission of • Uranium-233 • Uranium-235 • Plutonium-239 Collision with a single neutron splits the nucleus of one of the above Fissile Isotopes into two nuclei, each being much closer in mass to Iron.

7 MeV of Energy/Nucleon from Fusion of Hydrogen1 to Helium4

Nuclear Fusion, however, requires incredibly-high Stellar Temperatures and Pressures!

But what in the Universe could create elements so far past Iron, like the Super heavy Nuclei of Uranium and Thorium?




8

Supernova—Birth of the Heavy ElementsSuper nova Explosions of Ancient Stars created:

~Half of the Elements heavier than Iron

100% of all Thorium, Uranium and other heavy isotopes that are Radioactive.

Our Solar System formed from their Remnants:

• Earth formed from materials enriched in Heavy Elements, plus Radioisotopes Essential for it to become and remain a Living Planet.




9

Radioisotopes – how have R.I.s Enabled Earth to be a Living Planet?

Intro to R.I.s – in Increasing Abundance in Earth’s Crust Isotope/Abbreviation Concentration Comments

– Uranium-235 ~0.018 ppm Fuel for Today’s (1st-gen.) Nuclear Power, LWRs (Light Water Rx’s),235U LWRs require that Uranium be enriched ~Five-Fold in ~rare U-235

– Uranium-238: ~2.5 ppm 142 times more abundant than U-235 238U

– Potassium-40: ~3 to 3.5 ppm 0.012% of all Potassium is K-4040K

– Thorium-232: ~12.5 ppm All Thorium is Th-232, ~4.5 and ~700 times more 232Th abundant in the Continental Crust than U-238 and U-235

– Rubidium-87: ~45.0 ppm 28% of all Rubidium is R-87Kim L Johnson - ChemInnovar, LLC 10/20/2009


R.I. Heat Generation versus Time and Type of Rock

∑ Radiogenic Heating, cal/(tonneRock)/Yr

Heating from U, K & Th Today per Rock Type, cal/(tonneRock)/Yr*

Internal Heating in the Past vs. Today 2.5 Billion+ yrs ago, Uranium & Potassium-40 generated

over 80% of the internal heating of our hot young planet: • Compared to 232Th, 238U and especially 235U & 40K decay faster

and produce heat at appreciably higher rates /kg R.I.• Past concentrations of and heating due to U and 40K were

thus much higher than presently.• Total heat production was some 2-5 times > that of today.

Today, it is Thorium that contributes most of all R.I.s toward keeping Earth’s Interior Hot.


10LFTR* – Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium *Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (Lîfter | LifTôr)


R.I.s Continue Enabling Earth Today to Keep its:

Mantle Hot – especially under the Continental Crust

Core Dynamic

How did Thorium and other R.I.s

come to congregate above the Mantle

and even enable today’s

Dynamic Core?


11

Thorium & other R.I.s are Fortuitously Incompatible with the Mantle

Early molten Earth crystallized from the base of

the Mantle upward.*

This forced the elements Incompatible with the Mantle’s most common crystal structures to migrate upward toward the new, primordial Crust.• In order of Increasing Incompatibility with the

Mantle are the Alkali Metals (incl’g K-40), the "Rare-Earth” Metals, Uranium and especially Thorium.

• Incompatible Elements include – fortuitously for Life – all the long-lived R.I.s with which the Earth is endowed naturally.

Before Earth had aged ~30 Ma [see (A)] the Mantle had begun to crystallize into different phases (indicated by shades of blue) and to leave behind a still-molten region (a separate phase) that was enriched in R.I.s and accumulating just under the thin, newly-forming Crust. This RI-rich region is shown in Red in (A).

Some time after ~30 Ma, the Primordial Crust cooled, lost buoyancy and began to subduct into the now-solid Mantle (however still plastic and able to move)

The subducting crust dragged the RI-rich region, now solidified and adhering, deep into the Mantle.


(A)* Earth <30 Millions Yrs Old

*Reference for Figures/Concepts of this slide & next is in below Notes.



12

Likely Resting Place for Earth’s Early R.I.-Rich RegionMost likely location today for Earth’s early RI-rich region

is the Core-Mantle Boundary.* Labeled D” (D double-

prime) by geologists, this important boundary of distinct material is reported to: Lie some 2700 km beneath Earth's Crust, resting just on

top of its Iron Core. Contain an estimated ~43% of Earth’s R.I. Inventory Generate ~9 TW of Heat (~¼ of the heat leaving Earth’s

interior), making D” probably more thermogenic per km3 than any other natural structure within the Earth.

Averaging about 200 km in thickness, each area of D” deforms in response to what the Mantle above is doing: • Subducting Slabs of Tectonic-Plate Mantle (cooler,

sinking material shown as Green in (B)] make regions of D” lying below them thinner and thus cooler.


{(A) Earth <30 Millions Yrs Old}

(B) Earth Today

• Mantle Plumes (hot, rising zones under Yellowstone, Hawaii, etc) s t r e t c h the height of D” regions beneath. This makes D” under mantle plumes generate even more heat, which keeps them convecting strongly.

But why are both a Hot Mantle and a Dynamic Core

Critical for a Living Planet?Kim L Johnson - ChemInnovar, LLC

10/20/2009


13

Hot Mantle – a Requirement for a Living PlanetHeat – which increases the plasticity (ability to flow under pressure ) of even rock – lets the Mantle respond to changes in density and/or pressure by moving.

A Mantle constantly churning & turning for >4 Billion years has been essential for Earth to:


Move and transform the Continents (Note the Radical Changes just in the most recent 5% of its history)

Replace land worn down by erosion by uplifting other land and building new mountains

Bring up fresh rock and lava to enrich the land with nutrients and trace minerals essential for Life

Replenish gases escaping from the atmosphere to space with H2O, CO2, SO2 & other gases fresh from volcanoes & vents.



14

Dynamic Core: Absolutely Required for a Living PlanetA Dynamic Core – one that moves molten Metal in complex convection currents – is what generates the Earth’s Geomagnetism.

R.I.s’ Chemical Incompatibility (which forced them to migrate to the Crust and the Core-Mantle Boundary long ago) and their sustained Heat of Decay have enabled Geomagnetism that’s both Strong and Long-Lasting.

The resulting Magnetic Field even sustains Life by doing the following:

Rerouting more than 99% of the Solar Wind harmlessly around the Planet: • Solar Wind is an energetic stream of

charged particles that pervades the entire Solar System.

Preventing Earth’s Atmosphere and especially its Water from being “sand-blasted” away into Space by the Solar Wind.




15

The Red Planet Mars during its first ~billion years was blessed with a strong magnetic field, a much denser atmosphere and lots of liquid water.

Unfortunately not endowed with sufficient R.I.s to significantly slow its internal cooling, the Red Planet suffered the following:

• Solidification of its Iron Core. This was probably complete about three Billion years ago and shut down > 99% of its Magnetic Field.

• Loss to the Solar Wind “shortly” after its Dynamo died of more than 98% of its Atmosphere and all Liquid Water on its surface.

Insufficient R.I.s Spell Death to a Core's Dynamo


But how might Thorium – Earth’s Life-Sustaining

R.I. of Today –Sustain the Dynamo of

Industrial Life:Affordable Energy?

Fortunately for Terrestrial Life, a more generous R.I. Endowment should Sustain Earth’s Dynamo for at least another Billion years.



16

• Energy from Thorium can become Key to sustaining Industrial Life

• Sustainable energy – up to E.U. Standards – can be created through LFTR with Thorium for:

– Each individual on Earth (6.5+ Billion and growing)

– Millions of years, literally

Let’s Learn How:




17

LFTR – a Uniquely-Sustainable Energy Source, Thanks to its four Special Abilities to:

1. Convert Thorium to a Highly Efficient and Clean Nuclear Fuel in situ (without any Off-Site Reprocessing)

2. Use Low-Melting Fluoride solvents that keep its Fuel and FP (Fission Products) dissolved in Liquid form:

• Liquid Fluoride Salts facilitate Safety, Environmental Footprint and Economics from Thorium that are Orders-of-Magnitude more favorable than the same from any other Scalable Energy Source

3. Resist Nuclear Proliferation with the Thorium-232/U-233 Fuel Cycle

Special Ability (“S.A.”) #4 follows!



18

S.A. #4 – the Bottom Line for LFTR Development4. Generate 1000 MW of Electrical Energy per Year with:

• Less than 1 metric tonne (t) of Fluoride-soluble Thorium Fuel

• No Fuel Rods along with their costly Cladding nor Labor-intensive Loading of:– Fuel Rods with solid Uranium Dioxide Pellets– Solid-Fueled Reactors with Rods clad with highly-purified Zirconium alloys (not recycled & very $$)

• Under 800 kg of By-Products: 99.5% clean Fission Products (FPs)– 94% of By-Products need neither Storage on a Geologic-timescale nor Recycling– By-Product Volume requiring Special Handling is < 0.1% of that of today’s LWR.

For 1000 MW/yr from Light-Water Reactors, we are obligated to:– Load ~54 t of Fuel Rods filled with Enriched UO2

Pellets (Blended with binders & dopants to try to increase pellet strength and life, then sintered solid under high pressure to very stringent specifications)

– Deal with ~50 t of By-Products requiring Special Handling , meaning one or both of the following:• Reprocess Spent Fuel & Rods – Many expensive and

complex processes but definitely doable (i.e., done in France)

• Geologic (long-term) Storage – Yucca Mountain (??....)

Kim L Johnson - ChemInnovar, LLC 10/20/2009 LFTR* – Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium *Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (Lîfter | LifTôr)


Lifetime of UO2 and all other *Solid* Nuclear Fuels is Severely Limited by Radiation Damage and the Buildup of FPs in the Pellets & Zirconium Cladding


19

Converts Thorium in situ with simple Thermal Neutrons to Clean-Burning Nuclear Fuel without Off-Site Reprocessing

LFTR SA #1

Details}

Thorium thus holds tremendous advantages in sustainability over all other Raw Materials in consideration as “Energy RMs”:



A. Compared to Boron (easily mined from plentiful Borax deposits), Thorium (found commonly in Carbonatite, Monazite and Vein-type deposits) is about four times more abundant.

B. Not only over 4 and 560 times more plentiful than Uranium-238 and U-235 respectively, basically all Thorium (~100% of which is Th-232) becomes a highly-efficient nuclear fuel within LFTR. .

C. Efficiency as a (1) Fuel and (2) Energy RM for Thorium in LFTR, compared to the same for Uranium in Light Water Reactors (LWR) are:

1. ~370 times greater, based on naturally-occurring isotopes.

2. ~5000 to 10,000 times greater,* based

on Rock and Ore moved and processed

D. Thorium Fuel Efficiency is over Six Million times that of Coal. (Wyodak Coal from Wyoming) .


20

Thorium Abundancein Earth’s Crust Natural Thorium and Uranium give us

> 50% of All Radiation we receive in our lifetime

0.018

~13 ppM

~12.5 ppM

-235




21

Low-Melting Fluorides as Solvent for Better Nuclear & Chemical Reactions: Key to High Efficiency

LFTR SA #2

Details}

Liquid Fluoride, besides better Heat Transfer, enables one to:



A. Keep Nuclear Fuels and Fission Products (FPs) continually circulating in a safely diluted liquid form.

B. Add Fuel / Remove FPs more or less ~continuously~ via re-circulating process loops • Side streams undergo chemical/physical unit operations

that are straight forward (especially for Chem Engineers!)

• Ability to process Fuel in and FPs out ~continuously enables Thorium Fuel Efficiencies of 99%+ in LFTR.

C. Operate at much higher temperatures and higher th (Thermal Efficiencies) but under safe, ambient pressures. • LFTR th can thus be 30–50% higher than those for LWR.

D. Produce power via a Brayton or other inert-gas cycle that can even be cooled with Ambient Air instead of water (which is often costly and/or in tight supply)


22

Resist Nuclear Proliferation by using the inherently Proliferation-Resistant Thorium-232 / Uranium-233 Fuel Cycle

Using Thorium-232 on the other hand to breed U-233 of adequate purity and cost-effective handling has proven to be impossibly more difficult than even Ultra-Enrichment of U-235 (Iran may be attempting the latter).

Due to much greater difficulties in making weapons-worthy U-233 (material contaminated with exceedingly low levels of unavoidable U-232 by-product), the Thorium Fuel Cycle has always been nuclear weapons designers’ last choice to develop.

LFTR SA #3

Details}



A. Of the Trans-Uranics (by-product elements beyond Uranium like Np, Pu & Am) from the Uranium fuel cycle, the predominant and also unavoidable Tr-U element is Plutonium.

B. For weapons material, it is typically easier to: (a) Purify Plutonium from leftover Uranium fuel than it is to (b) Highly Enrich U-235 to 85% or higher.

C. This greater ease in separating (a) Elements chemically (i.e., Pu from U) vs. (b) Isotopes physically (i.e., U-235 from U-238) has positioned Plutonum-239 in the most plentiful and the weapons material of choice since WW II.


23

Isotope Production

Chemical Process Schematics

Proliferation Potential of the 3 Fissile Fuels Compared


Uranium-235(Ultra-Enriched to 85%+ Purity)

Isotope Separation Plant

Ultra Enrichment of Natural Uranium

(only 0.7% U-235)

Isotope Production Reactor (Hanford)

PUREX Processing (Chemical Separation of Plutonium-239 from

U-238 Irradiated with Neutrons)

Trinity 7/16/1945 Nagasaki 8/9/1945

Uranium-233

from Thorium (100% Th-232)

ROADBLOCK to Weapons from Thorium

U-233 from Th-232 comes contaminated with U-232, whose decay products soon emit powerful Gamma Rays. This makes U-233 Weapons so hazardous & costly to fabricate and deploy that no one has ever succeeded or even seriously pursued such! Thus during the arms race no major government anywhere ever gave much thought to Thorium…

Hiroshima 8/6/1945


Plutonium-239 from Depleted Uranium (99.8% U-238)

Chemical Separation

(of Uranium-233 from Irradiated Thorium-232)

Nuclear and Chemical Properties of Thorium are basically Proliferation Proof

1.

3.

2.


24

Requirements* for 1000 MW of Electric Power for 1 Year

A. Fuel: ~0.80 t (metric ton) natural Thorium – from ~60 t typical Ore + Waste Rock and modest processing to produce purified, free-flowing UF4 crystals.

LWR Fuel Rods: ~366 t natural U3O8 – from 300,000 to 600,000 t typical commercial Ore + WR, followed by processing much more complex (and energy intensive) than needed for Thorium, to finally form UO2 pellets. The latter are then loaded with great care into some 13 t of single-use Zirconium Cladding.

B. By-Products: ~799 kg “BPs” that are ~99.8% FPs. Of this ~83% is radio-safe in 10 years. Most of the remaining 17% is safe in 300 years. • LFTR BPs hold typically < 100 ppm of Trans-Uranic elements.

LWR BPs: ~50,000 kg.

C. Special Handling: the remaining 17% includes two FPs that possess particularly special utility but especially long half-lives: • Technitium-99 (~36 kg**) • Iodine-129 (~13 kg**)

• Both RadioIsotopes are important Medical R.I.s, and Technetium should enhance Industrial Catalysts.

• Due to Environmental Mobility however, any Tc-99/I-129 that Industry cannot use should be: (1) Stored for >> 200,000 years And/Or (2) Fed back to LFTR Core to convert into Stable

Isotopes.

LWR Special Handling: Spent Fuel Rods (~53,500 kg) require Geologic Storage (200,000+ years) unless reprocessed – very expensive – and still politically improbable in the US.

LWR BPs, most of which require Sp.H., include: ~1116 kg FPs; ~300-550 kg Tr-U’s;

~300 kg U-235; ~148 kg U-236; ~13,000 kg Zr/SS Cladding; and ~35,000 kg U-238.

LFTR SA #4

Details}



*All values approximate.


25

~60 t Thorium Ore + Waste Rock

per Thorium averages in Monazite (~7%Th), Carbonatite (~2%) and Vein-

Type (~0.5%) deposits**

~366 t UraniumYellowcake (impure U3O8)

Significant TransUranics form (U-238+n

Pu-239 etc). >½ of U-235 burns (but <~⅕ TrU’s) before Radiation & Heat weaken Fuel Rods & Buildup of Fission Products (FPs) poisons further nuclear reactions.

LWR th=~34%

LWR ‘By-Products’ ∑~53,500 kg All amounts approximate:

• 35,000 kg U-238 • 1116 kg FPs

• 300 kg U-235 • 148 kg U-236

• ~300-550 kg TransUranics: ~5% Np- 237, 4% Pu-238, 45% Pu-239,~21% Pu-240, 12% Pu-241, 8% Pu-242, ~4%∑Am

• 13,000 kg Cladding & Hardware

• Geo Storage 200,000+ yrs – Yucca Mountain Unlikely

0.80 t ThoriumExpressed as elemental Th

LFTR By-Products~779 kg of Clean FPs

~300,000 – 600,000 t*

Uranium Ore + Waste Rock

By-Products of Value OR for Geo-Storage OR Recycle to Reactor:• ~36 kg Tc-99 • ~13 kg I-129 • <0.8 kg TrU’s

~83%: Stable in 10 yrs

~17%: 300-yr Safe Storage



~338 t Depleted UF6

• 95% stored as highly reactive UF6

• Depleted U still holds ~0.3% 235U

Fuel-Cycle Comparison: Enriched-U/LWR ~vs~ Natural Thorium/LFTR

Basis: 1000 MWe-yr (one Gigawatt of Electric Power for One Year) . . . .

Thorium (as ThF4 crystals)

• Metered into LFTR’s Blanket and converted to U-233

• Fluorinated to UF6 (g), readily

transferring to the Core • Reduced to UF4/UF3 (liq) and

cleanly fissioned to FPs.

LFTR th=~48%

56 t*Enriched UF6 from:

1.Complex Multi-Step Proces’g of Crude YC with Significant U Process Losses

2. Reactive UF6 Vapor is Centrifuged, Concentrating 0.71% 235U to 3.2%.


26

Energy from Solid Uranium or Thorium Reactors is nevertheless much more sustainable than from Fossil Fuels, especially Coal.

1. Burn annually some 4.9 Million tonnes, generate ca. 9 Million t of CO2 and capture and safely

dispose of ~300,000 t of Ash. – Huge volumes must be mined & transported over great distances, displacing even greater volumes of Waste Rock.

2. Capture SO2/NOx. These acid-rain pollutants require costly scrubbing equipment and lots of energy-

intensive CaO and NH3 (to capture SO2 and consume NOx).

– Sulfur in Coal forces Utilities to handle some ~200,000 to 300,000 tonnes/yr of by-product CaSO4 Slurry

and to Filter, Dry and Find a Home for the contaminated Gypsum.

3. Capture as much Fly Ash (Airborne Ash)* as possible and store it safely. Fly Ash components with enviro-hazards include Carcinogenic Dioxins and PAHs (PolyAromatic Hydrocarbons), plus the following: (Approximate typical concentrations in ppm. Components of extra concern are listed in italics.)

Lead - 60 ppm Mercury - 2 Cadmium - 3 Arsenic - 40

Thallium - 9 Chromium(+6) - 90 Nickel - 80 Cobalt - 35 ppm

4. Be Prepared for Carbon Capture, which could become required in the (near) future! For the same amount of useful energy, CC is likely to boost all the above tonnages and hazardous

components by a whopping 30 to 40% !

*Respirable* Fly Ash from Coal contributes to theEarly Demise of Millions among Mankind Each Year



For 1000 MWe-yr from Coal (i.e. Wyoming’s Powder River Basin), U.S. Utilities must:


27

Thorium is that “New Life

Line”

93,300,000 kg Coal (856 Rail Cars Wyodak Coal, av. Values: 8220 Btu/lb, 50% C, 0.6% S, 6% Ash) Weekly By-Products: 170,000 tonnes CO2, 5,600 t Ash, 2,700 t Gypsum.

Significant % of Ash is Fly Ash (Airborne Ash, which includes Respirable Particulates) Fly Ash compounds of Environmental Hazard include Dioxins & PAHs (both carcinogens) and the following Heavy Metals (approx. typical conc.'s in ppm; of special concern in italics):

• Lead ~60 • Mercury ~2 • Cadmium ~3 • Arsenic ~40 • Thallium ~9 • Chromium(+6) ~90 • Nickel ~80 • Cobalt ~35

15.4 kg Thoriumcleanly fissioned at ηF ≥ 99% (5⅓" Sphere)

Fuels and By-Products for 1000 MW of Power for

One Week

37,200,000 kg Natural Gas 69% of typical 130,000m³ LNG CarrierBy-Product: 102,300 t CO2 per week

777 kg Enriched Uranium Dioxide Pellets

By-Products / Week: ~6500 kg Depleted Uranium Major concern: ~1026 kg Spent Fuel Rods

Spent-Fuel “By-Products” (approx wt’s/week) • 673 kg U-238 • 250 kg Zirconium/SS Cladding • 21.5 kg Fission Products• ~6-11 kg Tr-U’s to Reprocess($$) or Store >>200,000 years

• ~6 kg U-235 (Unburned Fuel) • ~3 kg U-236 (Hot!)

Thorium By-Products for 1000 MWe-wkSlightly under 15.4 kg of “clean” FPs per week:• 12.8 kg is Stable in <10 yrs • 2.6 kg needs 300-yr Storage of which <0.96 kg to be Sold, Stored Longer OR Recycled. • Less than 0.015 kg Tr-U’s produced typically



LFTR* – Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium *Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (Lîfter | LifTôr) 28

Additional Pro’s for Thorium and LFTR Thorium is incredibly energy-dense, ideal for Thermal-Spectrum reactors (cheaper to

build and much safer to operate than Fast-Spectrum) and abundant throughout the Earth: – Thorium, used efficiently in LFTR, will last for literally Millions of years!

Solid-Fueled Reactors cannot easily or conveniently use Thorium: – Solid Nuclear Fuels are super-difficult (basically impossible) to reprocess continuously.

Fluid-fueled reactors – with LFTR the best demonstrated thus far – offer the best promise of complete “nuclear” combustion.

Thorium-fueled reactors and LFTR in particular beat all other systems ever considered for producing energy:

– Impossibly Difficult to Divert and Use U-233 successfully for Nuclear Weapons– Safer Low-pressure Operation and flexibility to Cool with Ambient Air

– Continuous Addition / Removal of Fuel & Fission Products enabled by Fluoride Solvent

– No Greenhouse Emissions and virtually no Trans-Uranic Wastes– Lower-cost Construction and easier to Mass-Produce wherever




29

Although Roadblocks to nuclear weapons with the Thorium/Uranium fuel cycle caused Cold-War governments to abandon development on Thorium, the situation today ought to change for the better.

What the world needs now is Energy that meets all the following conditions: (1) Sustainability (2) Resistance to Nuclear Proliferation (3) High Energy Density (thus making it Economical).

Plentiful Thorium, which through LFTR can fulfill all 3 conditions, holds the best promise of easily meeting most of mankind’s energy needs for at least the next Five Million years.*

Best Way to getEnergy from Thorium?

Develop LFTR!Kim L Johnson - ChemInnovar, LLC

10/20/2009

Summary – and Best Way to Use Thorium


To learn more, feel free to visit EnergyfromThorium.com

Check out its Blog, Discussion Forum, or Archives on

LFTR!

Life-Sustaining Energy from Thorium: LFTR.

http://www.energyfromthorium.com/

http://www.energyfromthorium.com/

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