In this type of thorium breeder reactor, the thorium is just an minor additive to the fuel because most of the fuel is U238 as a proliferation protection mechanism (less than 5% fissile). A thorium reactor produces loads of plutonium 239 because of all that U238 in the fuel as required by nrc regulations.
Also. neptunium-237, is a proliferation risk and is water soluble which makes it a very dangerous nuclear waste that thorium reactors cannot burn that can travel far and wide through the water table. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptunium "Neptunium is fissionable, and could theoretically be used as fuel in a fast neutron reactor or a nuclear weapon, with a critical mass of around 60 kilograms.[71] In 1992, the U.S. Department of Energy declassified the statement that neptunium-237 "can be used for a nuclear explosive device".[140] It is not believed that an actual weapon has ever been constructed using neptunium. As of 2009, the world production of neptunium-237 by commercial power reactors was over 1000 critical masses a year, but to extract the isotope from irradiated fuel elements would be a major industrial undertaking.[141] In September 2002, researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory briefly created the first known nuclear critical mass using neptunium in combination with shells of enriched uranium (uranium-235), discovering that the critical mass of a bare sphere of neptunium-237 "ranges from kilogram weights in the high fifties to low sixties,"[1] showing that it "is about as good a bomb material as [uranium-235]."[27] The United States Federal government made plans in March 2004 to move America's supply of separated neptunium to a nuclear-waste disposal site in Nevada.[141]" On Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 6:43 PM, bobcook39...@hotmail.com < bobcook39...@hotmail.com> wrote: > I think fast breeders generally use a liquid metal as a coolant. That is > not nice to repair or refuel. It leaves a mess to cleanup in the end. > > > > A light water breeder like that in the last Shipping Port reactor is a > better bet that can be back-fitted into light pressurized water reactors. > It bread Th-232 to U-233 and was proven to work in the late 1960’s early > 70’s. > > > > Any fission reactor LEAVES A MESS for future generations, including the > fast breeders. And they have less intrinsic nuclear (physics) safety than > thermal light water reactors to avoid operating accidents. > > > > IMHO India and China do not have the managerial safety ethic to handle the > large fission reactor technology they are betting on. I hope they give up > and focus on LENR R&D. > > > > I would love to see their safety analyses for the new reactor. I bet it > has all sort of holes similar to the design assumptions the Japanese folks > found satisfactory for Fukushima. The first issue is siting it near a > large population—idiocy IMHO. An exclusion zone of 100 km would be > warranted to start with. > > > > Bob Cook > > > > > > . > > > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Adrian Ashfield <a.ashfi...@verizon.net> > *Sent:* Saturday, December 16, 2017 1:43:08 PM > *To:* vortex-l@eskimo.com > *Subject:* [Vo]: Fast breeder thorium reactor > > India about to step up its renewable energy game > https://www.rt.com/business/407709-india-russia-nuclear-reactor/ >
