Some Nuclear Energy Backers Say Uranium Alternative Could be a Magic Bullet
In the midst of renewed global interest in nuclear energy, a long-overlooked nuclear fuel, thorium, is being re-examined as a potential solution to some of the industry's most daunting problems, including disposal of waste.
Widely available in the sandy beaches of India, Australia, and the United States, among other places, thorium is a naturally occurring, slightly radioactive element that is being heralded by advocates as a safer alternative to uranium that could help limit the production of nuclear waste and prevent nuclear technology from being used for weapons rather than energy.
Though many nuclear scientists have known about thorium's potential for decades—it was briefly used in the 1970s at the first U.S. commercial reactor in Shippingport, Pa.—it never caught on commercially. Today, however, with nearly three dozen nuclear reactors under construction worldwide and plans for at least two dozen more, world leaders are facing mounting pressure to make sure that the nuclear industry's expansion takes place as safely and cleanly as possible.
Could thorium be the solution? Some politicians and businesses hope so. Earlier this month, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced a bill that would set aside $250 million for research and development of thorium fuels.
Abroad, interest in thorium is even greater. The Indian government publicly has said that it wants to promote new nuclear plants running on thorium to help meet its soaring energy needs. Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and many others also have expressed interest.
Proponents say thorium has multiple advantages over uranium fuel. Because it is consumed more slowly in nuclear reactions than uranium, it has the potential to cut the volume of nuclear waste produced in half. Unlike a uranium reaction, a thorium fuel reaction doesn't produce weapons-usable plutonium, which would allay concerns about developing countries pursuing nuclear weapons under the pretext of nuclear energy. And proponents also say that thorium fuel could be used in new and existing reactors without companies having to make major changes to their reactor designs or fork out money for retrofits.
The dilemma of nuclear waste disposal, a longtime political lightning rod, is part of the reason no new nuclear plant has been approved for construction in the United States in some 30 years. The federal government's decades-old plan to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., remains stuck in limbo, and many observers speculate that the repository will never get built. Thorium would not eliminate the problem but, at least in theory, could reduce the amount of waste that would need disposal.
At the moment, thorium isn't quite ready for commercial use. The research is not yet complete, and approval of thorium fuel by the U.S. government still remains at least several years off. But some surprising international partnerships already are yielding promising developments.
One leading company, Virginia-based Thorium Power, has been working with researchers in Russia since the early 1990s to commercialize thorium (with the blessing of the U.S. government, of course). For the past five years, Thorium Power has been testing its fuel design in a research reactor at Moscow's Kurchatov Institute. Having completed that phase, the company will spend the next six months examining the results, says Thorium Power's CEO, Seth Grae. Over the next few years, it plans to test the fuel in a commercial reactor and, finally, seek approval from the Russian government to market the technology. "A few years ago I would have ticked off several risk factors that are now behind us," Grae said. "This is now at a very advanced stage."
According to the World Nuclear Association, however, there are some technical and financial hurdles that need to be resolved. There is a small concern, for instance, that the type of uranium that is formed in the reaction, if it were to be isolated, could still be used to make weapons.
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Thorium Use Negatives
Uranium-233/Thorium nuclear fuel cycle as implemented in Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR) answer the two most common primary objections to wider application of nuclear power.
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors:
• Provide a proliferation-resistant fuel cycle — there is no production of nuclear weapons-usable Plutonium in spent fuel. LFTR reactors are proliferation resistant but not perfectly proliferation proof. LFTR Reactors produce Uranium-233 which has very poor characteristics as a weapon material. It is possible, but improbable, that a weapon could be built exclusively out of U-233 removed from a LFTR reactor. No weapon has ever been built or tested based solely on U-233. Clever alterations of the basic Thorium Reactors have been proposed but in the end physical security of a LFTR reactor would have to be maintained and no unauthorized material could be permitted to be removed from the reactor while it operates in order to assure safety.
• Eliminate the need for long term storage of high level nuclear waste at facilities like Yucca Mountain by significantly reducing the volume, weight and long-term radio-toxicity of spent fuel [1]. Uranium-233 produced in Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors is a fuel that can be burned while producing energy leaving only fission products. The longest lived fission products produced by LFTR Reactors decay to benign levels of the radioactive natural background within 300 years and the majority of fission products of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors decay far faster than that (84% of the fission products of a LFTR reactor decay to natural background levels in 10 years). The nuclear fuel efficiency of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors is in excess of 98% while traditional Uranium-Plutonium cycle LWR used to commercially make electricity in the US only have a fuel efficiency of 2 to 3%.
The new Administration should take responsible steps to lead in initiating a transition from Uranium-Plutonium fuel cycle technology which was developed to meet the combined needs of weapons and power generation to Thorium Fuel Cycle technology which is only suitable for generating abundant electrical power.
[1] Le Brun, C., “Impact of the MSBR concept technology on long-lived radio-toxicity and
proliferation resistance”, Technical Meeting on Fissile Material Management Strategies for
Sustainable Nuclear Energy, Vienna 2005
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Why isn't everyone getting behind thorium nuclear?
This fuel source could safely provide all of our domestic electrical energy requirements. This summarized Washington press release proves that someone is listening:
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Harry Reid (D-NV.) recently introduced legislation that would pave the way for thorium nuclear-fuel reactors in the United States. The Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act of 2008 would establish offices at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy to regulate domestic thorium nuclear power generation and oversee possible demonstrations of thorium nuclear fuel assemblies. Using thorium for nuclear power has a number of potential benefits over conventional uranium. As a resource, thorium is abundant in the U.S. and throughout the world.
A thorium fuel rod would remain in the reactor about three times as long as conventional nuclear fuel, cutting the volume of spent nuclear fuel by as much as two-thirds. Also, thorium nuclear fuel would significantly reduce the possibility that weapons-grade material would result from the process. Finally, a thorium fuel cycle could be used to dispose of existing plutonium stockpiles, which is the national security goal.
“Our nation has focused mostly on mixed oxide nuclear fuel cycles, and our regulatory structure reflects that,” Hatch said. “With the growing interest in thorium nuclear power in the world and in the U.S., it’s time we made sure our government has a regulatory infrastructure in place to accommodate this new generation of nuclear power.” Speaking about the bill, Bruce Blair, president of the World Security Institute said, “This legislation reflects an enlightened grasp of the importance of supporting nuclear power while suppressing nuclear proliferation.
“This bill is a giant step for the United States toward the development of a safe, secure and independent energy future,” said Jack Lifton, business development and corporate communications Director of Thorium Energy Inc. (www.ThoriumEnergy.com). Thorium Energy is a resource company that owns property in Lemhi Pass, Idaho, where it is generally believed that the largest veins of thorium-rich minerals in the world are located. Analysis of the deposits shows them to be either the highest grade or in the top tier of the highest grade known anywhere on Earth.
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