In 1973, however, the US government settled on uranium technology and largely discontinued thorium-related nuclear research. In 1968, Nobel laureate and discoverer of plutonium, Glenn Seaborg, publicly announced to the Atomic Energy Commission, of which he was chairman, that the thorium-based reactor had been successfully developed and tested.
The MSRE reactor, built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operated critical for roughly 15,000 hours from 1965 to 1969. During that period, the government of the United States also built an experimental prototype molten salt reactor using U-233 fuel, the fissile material created by bombarding thorium with neutrons. These were similar to the reactor designs that produced material for nuclear weapons. Development of breeder reactors in general (including thorium reactors, which are breeders by nature) will increase proliferation concerns.Įarly thorium-based ( MSR) nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960sĪfter World War II, uranium-based nuclear reactors were built to produce electricity. In 2011, a group of scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology assessed thorium-based power as "a 1000+ year solution or a quality low-carbon bridge to truly sustainable energy sources solving a huge portion of mankind's negative environmental impact." However, development of thorium power has significant start-up costs. Īdvocates believe thorium is key to developing a new generation of cleaner, safer nuclear power. īetween 19, the number of operational thorium reactors in the world has risen from zero to a handful of research reactors, to commercial plans for producing full-scale thorium-based reactors for use as power plants on a national scale. Moir and Edward Teller suggested that thorium nuclear research should be restarted after a three-decade shutdown and that a small prototype plant should be built. One advantage of thorium fuel is its low weaponization potential it is difficult to weaponize the uranium-233/ 232 and plutonium-238 isotopes that are largely consumed in thorium reactors.Īfter studying the feasibility of using thorium, nuclear scientists Ralph W. A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle -including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. bluemagic123, jopojelly, Eldrazi, and Gorateron for some groundwork coding help.Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium.Milt69466 for allowing the use of their Pot Mimic suggestion.SzGamer227 for allowing the use of his Hardmode Throwable suggestion.Shiki Sakura and Fargowilta for a variety of suggestions and ideas.Endling for allowing the use of his Pumpkin Lich design.MetoolDaddy for heavy inspiration on The Queen Jellyfish boss.SnugBoat, PhoenixBlade, Illuminati, zoroarkcity, Eli10293, Kalialioopsalot, and Ignus for a variety of sprites and ideas.Scophax for immensely helpful feedback on the Healer Class.Sapharan for the basis of the Soul Forge and the Warg sprites.Sergo for the Ninja Rack and the original Fallen Paladin's armor sprites.Vladimier for the original Dark Nexus vanity sprite.Newominus for the fanart used in this wiki's background.
0 kommentar(er)
