|
|
Swiss Team Works on Developing Thorium Reactor
1 February 2022
EIRNS—Swiss.info reports that the Transmutex company is developing a new type of nuclear reactor that burns thorium instead of uranium. These power plants would be able to produce electricity safely without highly radioactive waste—an ambitious project which could change the landscape of nuclear energy. Thorium is a weakly radioactive metal that occurs abundantly in rocks in almost the entirety of Earth’s crust. “It is much more democratic than uranium,” says Federico Carminati of Transmutex. Most of the uranium currently used as nuclear fuel is extracted from mines in Kazakhstan, Australia, and Canada. There are many advantages to a thorium reactor using a particle accelerator, according to Carminati. The radioactive decay time of thorium by-products is much shorter than that of uranium; 300 years instead of 300,000. The amount of hazardous waste would also be significantly reduced. “We are talking about a few kilograms instead of tons,” Carminati says. The thorium cycle would also have the advantage of preventing nuclear proliferation. The by-products of thorium fission cannot be used to make an atomic bomb, he says. But that’s not all. A thorium reactor could also be powered by nuclear waste from existing nuclear power plants. The flow of ultra-fast particles makes it possible to burn the waste and produce energy. In addition, in what is technically known as ‘transmutation’ (hence the name of the Transmutex start-up), some of the short-lived radioactive waste could also be transformed into stable elements. “This could solve the problem of the accumulation and storage of highly radioactive waste,” says Carminati. Transmutex has already attracted international partners. The Russian company Rosatom, which specializes in nuclear engines for submarines, is studying the possibility of developing a thorium reactor. Argonne National Laboratory, one of the most important nuclear research laboratories in the United States, is working on thorium fuel. “We have all the essential elements to build a new type of reactor, and all that remains is to assemble them,” says Carminati. Transmutex’s goal is to have a demonstration prototype ready by the early 2030s. [rap] |