Thorium vs uranium? The REAL winner!

Watch the full talk from the Thorium Energy Alliance Conference 2022 here: • Thorium Energy Allianc...
#thorium #nuclear #technology

[@robfer5370]

Thorium is the future of energy!

[@Feinrizulwur]

Thorium is a tricky one but fascinating. It converts to U233, the best fuel of all, because it runs effectively in thermal spectrum. Allowing Molten salts like flibe to acts as heat transfer. 50% efficiency at electricity. But the rest heat can be used in many ways, eg housing. The reactor runs at 800 C and can drive thermochemistry making hydrogen with heat. One of the biggest gifts to mankind.

[@johnkutsch7609]

and you get Phosphates and Rare Earths for FREE!

[@aaronknight1009]

Looking forward to seeing the working prototype, this looks fantastic

[@CopenhagenAtomics]

Stay tuned!

[@ianhowe1449]

They’re currently operating one in China, you should check it out.

[@shelleydavis5231]

Oh wow, I just only heard of this! Very very interesting indeed

[@quinto190]

I still remember the huge dump cones from the uranium mining in our region, for instance between Gera and Zwickau, Germany. It was kind of an otherwordly view, but now I know why they were so large...

[@MrRolnicek]

I am a supporter of Copenhagen atomics but I've always been staunchly against this exact misinformation. Conflating fissile and fertile material, conflating breeder and burner reactors.

[@EvidentlyChemistry]

Yes, exactly.

[@chapter4travels]

He does it every time. Compares thorium breeder MSRs to uranium PWRs. Intentionally misleading.

[@Yotaciv]

All the reading ive done lately shows to maintain a consistent power level there needs to be a portion of slightly refines uranium loaded in with the thorium. Then 1kg uranium added per day. Its very efficient apparently but yeah.

[@EvidentlyChemistry]

It is dishonest to compare fissile U235 with fertile Th. But you already knew that.

[@Teddy681]

Where does he do that? He is pointing out one advantage of a thorium breeder reactor compared to a reactor using uranium 235.

[@noahjones9833]

Hes contrasting them, showing how thorium is superior, whats dishonest about it?

[@VriendRick]

There are more yes than no's for thorium. 1 kg uranium is 98% nuclear wast you have to store for 21.000 years. 1kg thorium is only 2% nuclear wast you have to store fore only 300 years. Thorium is 100 times more availebal on earth than uranium. 1kg thorium delivers 4 times more electricity than 1kg uranium. Uranium reactor is an explosion hazard. Thorium is walk away safe. Thorium means no or less down time for maintenance. And much more Do not forget that they developed uranium powerplants for 70 years for bilions. Imagion the same time and money to develop and improve thorium powerplants. How far would we have been now in 2023.

[@EvidentlyChemistry]

Yes@@noahjones9833 , slightly better in thermal, far inferior in epithermal or fast spectrums. An honest comparison of alternative fuels would compare them in the same reactor, so the difference would be the fuel. This was done for instance in the Shippingport reactor. @Teddy681 Characterizing the existing fuel cycle as wasteful is insane, when for instance Sweden's full lifecycle emissions including decommissioning and disposal are under 3g CO2/kWhe.

[@dj6P5U]

Uranium can be enriched to only about 3% and become fertile enough for a power plant. When he says we need 100% more uranium, he’s talking about enriching ore from the ground to over 90% pure u235. That’s for a bomb

[@jamie-ox8sg]

Wheres this reactor then prove the concept

[@VriendRick]

Why do they not use this. Cheap clean energy plenty of it out of 1 reactor one a postamp of 1 square mile. Only 1 faciltie. Easy to bilt Easy to maintain Cheap energy WHY DO THEY NOT USE THIS CHEAP SLOLUTION FOR ENERGY

[@noahjones9833]

You already answered your own question, the same as 90% of problems in this world nowadays, cheap. Nonprofitable. If its cheap, super effective, abundant, and globally available, how are you %oing to sell those super expensive reactors, how will you keep the mines doors open when you need 1/100th the ore, how will you keep the protestor killing death squads funded if youre not butchering the planet? How will you have resource wars and pit people against eachother when thorium is in every country and massively plentiful? No, oil can be controlled, fought over, its limited and supply can be easily controlled by destruction and strangling trade for personal gain. Its *all* about money, not us. Not humans. Not people. The profit motive is about profits not people.

[@Randalf.]

The reason is the sunk cost fallacy the US decided to invest in research and the nuclear reactors we use now and too many people have their reputations writing on that or the reputations of the people who trained them writing on it they will refuse to accept that they are wrong or the people that train them or people that they look app to are wrong so the experts the people who could greenlight this stuff refuse to allow it due to pride it's not really profit because yes it's affordable If someone with the money to start it up wanted to they could make a lot of money by building Affordable power plants all over the place and just make the money not through high cost of electricity but by how much electricity they're selling