Future of Thorium Reactors and Nuclear Energy
118.2 هزار بار بازدید -
3 سال پیش
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Future of Thorium Reactors and
Future of Thorium Reactors and Nuclear Energy
Thorium was introduced as a potential energy source at the dawn of the nuclear age. With the first test reactor development starting soon after. The technology was one that was going to revolutionize the world - from efficient green power to thorium-powered planes. Except it never happened. Why did this occur? If it really has these large benefits, why hasn’t the technology been realized and built? My name is Joaquin Revello and today we will be exploring the engineering, economics, and sustainability of thorium nuclear reactors as a source of energy production for the future of energy. As in all my videos, I add business opportunities relating to the technology explored, that if brought to market could very well make you billions. Because of that, you definitely want to watch this entire video.
The design of nuclear reactors today is that of the standard U253 water reactor, which you likely already know the engineering behind. If not, I do not want to waste your time explaining this, so you can watch any video on YouTube, or my favorite video which I’ve linked in the description below: Nuclear Energy Explained: How does it.... However, what's most interesting and unknown about this reactor technology is how 96% of the total uranium from fuel rods goes unused - with these unused rods actually requiring a nuclear reprocessing plant to convert this back into usable fuel. Because with solid uranium253, there is a large buildup of noble gases that just absorb neutrons, preventing the reaction from really flourishing. On Top of this, the solid pieces of uranium become damaged due to radiation damage that leads to cracks in the solid lattice of the rods - making it more challenging for a chain reaction to propagate and more trips to the reprocessing plant. Another challenge with these reactors is that the water cooling is difficult to maintain, so a disruption in the water cooling supply could very likely lead to a catastrophic failure, as the rods are unable to be cooled.
The solution to this reactor? The thorium reactor, which consists of, well you guessed it, thorium atoms. Why Thorium atoms? First Thorium232 is not fissile-able material, which means that if the Thorium does split, it’s not the splitting that releases the bulk of the energy. Rather, when it does absorb a neutron, it turns into Protactinium233 and then into Uranium233. So it’s the U233 that releases the energy, with the 233 isotopes being actually more easily fissile than U235, with the probability of fission being larger at 91.2% compared to its absorption. Hence it's not the thorium atom splitting that releases energy, but rather its product U233.
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Follow Joaquin:
Linkedin - LinkedIn: joaquin-revello
Instagram - Instagram: joaquin_revello
TikTok - TikTok: joaquin_revello
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About Joaquin: I am a Freshmen at the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology - A duel degree between Wharton and Penn Engineering at UPenn
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Sources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k...
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#FutureofThoriumReactorsandNuclearEnergy
#JoaquinRevello #ThoriumReactors #NuclearEnergy
Thorium was introduced as a potential energy source at the dawn of the nuclear age. With the first test reactor development starting soon after. The technology was one that was going to revolutionize the world - from efficient green power to thorium-powered planes. Except it never happened. Why did this occur? If it really has these large benefits, why hasn’t the technology been realized and built? My name is Joaquin Revello and today we will be exploring the engineering, economics, and sustainability of thorium nuclear reactors as a source of energy production for the future of energy. As in all my videos, I add business opportunities relating to the technology explored, that if brought to market could very well make you billions. Because of that, you definitely want to watch this entire video.
The design of nuclear reactors today is that of the standard U253 water reactor, which you likely already know the engineering behind. If not, I do not want to waste your time explaining this, so you can watch any video on YouTube, or my favorite video which I’ve linked in the description below: Nuclear Energy Explained: How does it.... However, what's most interesting and unknown about this reactor technology is how 96% of the total uranium from fuel rods goes unused - with these unused rods actually requiring a nuclear reprocessing plant to convert this back into usable fuel. Because with solid uranium253, there is a large buildup of noble gases that just absorb neutrons, preventing the reaction from really flourishing. On Top of this, the solid pieces of uranium become damaged due to radiation damage that leads to cracks in the solid lattice of the rods - making it more challenging for a chain reaction to propagate and more trips to the reprocessing plant. Another challenge with these reactors is that the water cooling is difficult to maintain, so a disruption in the water cooling supply could very likely lead to a catastrophic failure, as the rods are unable to be cooled.
The solution to this reactor? The thorium reactor, which consists of, well you guessed it, thorium atoms. Why Thorium atoms? First Thorium232 is not fissile-able material, which means that if the Thorium does split, it’s not the splitting that releases the bulk of the energy. Rather, when it does absorb a neutron, it turns into Protactinium233 and then into Uranium233. So it’s the U233 that releases the energy, with the 233 isotopes being actually more easily fissile than U235, with the probability of fission being larger at 91.2% compared to its absorption. Hence it's not the thorium atom splitting that releases energy, but rather its product U233.
--
Follow Joaquin:
Linkedin - LinkedIn: joaquin-revello
Instagram - Instagram: joaquin_revello
TikTok - TikTok: joaquin_revello
--
About Joaquin: I am a Freshmen at the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology - A duel degree between Wharton and Penn Engineering at UPenn
--
Sources:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k...
--
#FutureofThoriumReactorsandNuclearEnergy
#JoaquinRevello #ThoriumReactors #NuclearEnergy
3 سال پیش
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