Energy From Thorium Foundation

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2 The Energy From Thorium Foundation Mission To educate and promote the adoption of Nuclear energy based on the use of Thorium in molten salt reactors, as a means to usher in an era of Sustainable Abundance TM Specifically, we advocate the development of the (2 fluid) Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) We believe this is the best long term design Lots for the public to like about LFTRs.

3 Prosperity depends on energy. GDP per capita $50,000 $45,000 $40,000 $35,000 $30,000 $25,000 $20,000 $15,000 $10,000 $5,000 Nations with populations over 10 million. $ Annual kwh per capita

4 Energy Crisis(s) Energy shortages are not unique to our time. Wood was the 2nd energy source. (1 st food) Wood also used for construction Centers of metal smelting became the most deforested areas of the Roman Empire. Rome had to import most of their timber from all over Europe.

5 Energy Crisis(s) Shortages happen and get resolved. These resolutions often spark the development of superior sources of energy or superior technology.

6 World Energy Consumption 5.3 billion tonnes of coal (128 quads) The Future: Energy from Thorium 31.1 billion barrels of oil (180 quads) 2.92 trillion m 3 of natural gas (105 quads) 6600 tonnes of thorium (500 quads) 65,000 tonnes of uranium ore (24 quads) Energy Density of Fission Fuel is more than 1 Million times greater than any fossil fuel!!!

7 Three Basic Nuclear Fuel Options Thorium-232 (100% of all Th) Uranium-233 Uranium-235 (0.7% of all U) Uranium-238 (99.3% of all U) Plutonium-239

8 Thorium is more Abundant Natural Thorium 100% thorium-232 Natural Uranium 99.3% uranium % uranium-235

9 Protactinium-233 Thorium-233 decays quickly to protactinium-233 Protactinium-233 decays slowly over a month to uranium-233, an ideal fuel Uranium-233 Thorium-233 Uranium-233 fissions, releasing energy and neutrons to continue the process Natural thorium absorbs a neutron from fission and becomes Th-233 Thorium-232

10 Nuclear Fuel Options Neutron Spectrum Fuel Uranium-233 / Thorium-232 Uranium-235 Plutonium-239 / Uranium-238 Thermal Spectrum (< 1eV) Feasible: U-233 fission produces enough neutrons per thermal absorption to sustain conversion of thorium-232 Feasible: U-235 is naturally fissile but rare Not feasible: Pu- 239 fission does not produce enough neutrons per thermal absorption to sustain conversion of uranium-238 Fast Spectrum (>100 kev) Feasible but less desirable: fast fission requires 10x more fissile material per unit power than thermal fission Feasible but less desirable: U-235 fast fission requires 10x more fissile material per unit power than thermal fission Feasible and necessary: only fast fission of Pu-239 produces enough neutrons per fast absorption to sustain conversion of uranium-238

11 Coolant Choices for Nuclear Reactors Coolant Temperature Pressure Atmospheric- Pressure Operation High-Pressure Operation Moderate Temperature ( C) Liquid Metal Water High Temperature ( C) Liquid Salt Gas

12 Liquid-Fluoride (Salt) Reactors: Background Liquid-Fluoride Reactors were recognized by the nuclear pioneers as offering significant advantages over other reactors types through use of liquid fluoride salt as both the coolant and the fuel carrier. These liquid salts offered the desirable combination of high temperature operation at low pressures. In 2002 molten-salt reactors were recognized as a general class as one of six Generation 4 reactor designs. LFTR meets Gen-4 objectives

13 Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) (2 fluid) Hot salt to heat exchanger Fluoride Volatility 238UF 6 Uranium Reduction HF Fertile Salt Recycled Fuel Salt Fission reactions in the core sustain additional fission in the core and conversion in the blanket Thorium tetrafluoride UF 6 xf 6 Uranium Absorption- Reduction Hexafluoride Distillation Recycled 7 LiF-BeF 2 Fluoride Volatility UF 6 Fuel Salt Thorium is converting to uranium-233 in the blanket Vacuum Distillation F 2 H 2 HF Electrolyzer Recycled Fertile Salt Fuel salt core ( 7 LiF- BeF UF 4 ) Fertile salt blanket ( 7 LiF-BeF 2 -ThF 4 ) MoF6, TcF6, SeF6, RuF5, TeF6, IF7, Other F6 Fission Product Waste Internal continuous recycling of blanket salt Cold salt from heat exchanger External batch processing of core salt, done on a schedule

14 LWR vs. LFTR Fuel flow (1 GWe plant) 250 t uranium containing 1.75 t U t of enriched uranium (1.15 t U-235) 800,000 t ore U-235 is burned; some Pu-239 is formed and burned. 215 t of depleted U-238 (0.6 t U-235) 35 t of spent fuel containing: 33.4 t U t U t fission products 0.3 t Pu 200 t ore 1 t thorium Fluoride reactor converts Th-232 to U-233 and burns it. 1 t fission products In 10 yrs, 83% FP stable. 17% FP stored ~300 years t Pu

15 Weinberg s Vision for our Energy Future Alvin Weinberg had a vision of our energy future. It would be clean and sustainable. As director of the Oak Ridge National Lab from he and his technical team made remarkable progress on this vision, culminating in the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment.

16 The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment ran from1965 to Salt flowed through channels in this graphite core.

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18 The Future: Energy from Thorium!

19 The Future: Energy from Thorium! With thorium, you can hold a lifetime s supply of energy in the palm of your hand.

20 Conclusions Thorium represents a inexhaustible source of energy for the world. Thorium + LFTR = Sustainable Abundance. Thorium + LFTR has public perception advantages: Thorium is new Much better safety story no meltdowns. Much improved waste story no forever waste. Learn more at: Facebook/EnergyFromThorium Twitter:ThorFoundation

21 Thank You!!!

22 Backup Slides!!!

23 1954: Aircraft Reactor Experiment used uranium fluoride dissolved in molten salt at 860 o C.

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25 Relative Nuclide Cross-Sections

26 Fuel Results Coupled with Primary Coolant Coolant Temperature Pressure Moderate Temperature ( C) High Temperature ( C) Atmospheric- Pressure Operation Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible but unattractive, thorium oxide fuel very difficult to process, requires additional moderator material Thermal U-235: Feasible but unattractive, requires additional moderator material Fast Pu-239/U-238: Attractive implementation, coolant choice minimizes moderation Liquid-Metal-Cooled Reactors Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible and attractive, thorium and uranium tetrafluorides easy to process, basis of LFTR concept Thermal U-235: Feasible but unattractive, requires enriched fuel, limited U-235 Fast Pu-239/U-238: Somewhat feasible, fluoride salts moderate neutrons, basis of MSFR concept Liquid-Fluoride Reactors High-Pressure Operation Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible but unattractive, thorium oxide fuel very difficult to process, demonstrated at Shippingport LWBR Thermal U-235: Feasible and basis for nearly all reactors in the world today, limited U-235 Fast Pu-239/U-238: Infeasible, water coolant is moderates neutrons and no fast spectrum Water-Cooled Reactors Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible but unattractive, thorium oxide fuel very difficult to process, demonstrated at Ft. St. Vrain HTGR Thermal U-235: Feasible implementation, basis of PBMR, VHTR, GT-MHR concepts, limited U-235 Fast Pu-239/U-238: Feasible implementation, fuel processing difficult, basis of GCFR and EM2 concepts Gas-Cooled Reactors

27 Fuel Results Coupled with Primary Coolant Coolant Temperature Pressure Atmospheric- Pressure Operation High-Pressure Operation Moderate Temperature ( C) Liquid-Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (uranium/plutonium) Liquid-Metal-Cooled Reactors Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) (thorium232-uranium233 ) (Flibe Energy) Enriched uranium water-cooled reactors (light-water and heavy-water) (uranium ) Water-Cooled Reactors High Temperature ( C) Liquid-Fluoride Reactors Pebble-Bed and Prismatic-Fueled High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors Gas-Cooled Fast Breeder Reactors (uranium/plutonium) Gas-Cooled Reactors

28 2 Natural Nuclear Fuels: Thorium & Uranium Thorium One isotope (232) 14 billion year half life Uranium Two isotopes (235, 238) U238: 5 billion year half life U235: 700 million year half life

29 Energy per Capita KCal/day Energy From Thorium Foundation 250 Energy and Civilization Transportation Industry and Agriculture Home and Commerce Food Primitive Man Hunting Man Primitive Agricultural Man Advanced Agricultural Man Industrial Man Technological Man Years ago 1 Million 100,000 5, present Food Home and Commerce Industry and Agriculture Transportation

30 Light-Water Reactor Spent Fuel Profile

31 Energy Total energy per capita in US per year: ~330,000,000 BTUs (About 10 tonnes of coal) (About 800 tonnes of coal in a lifetime) Personal + Industry. Standard of living is closely related to energy per capita.

32 What about Nuclear Energy Safety Record of Todays Nuclear (LWR) Excellent Safety Record Sourse:

33 What about Nuclear Energy Safety Record of Todays Nuclear (LWR) Excellent Safety Record (comes at a cost). Disadvantages Concerns over meltdowns Concerns over the long lived radioactive waste Advantages Clean Energy HUGE quantity of energy from very little fuel. Thousands of years of supply (Burners) Millions to Billions of years of supply (Breeders) What about Advanced Nuclear? Breeders Thorium

34 The Future: Energy from Thorium! Natural, abundant and inexpensive thorium can supply our energy needs. Thorium energy can be inexpensive and clean if extracted by a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR).

35 Advanced Nuclear Thorium and Uranium have a MILLION times the energy for the same quantity of either oil or coal The technology to efficiently use thorium was largely developed in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, but has subsequently been neglected. This technology can allow us to build small, modular, safe thorium reactors that can be used for: 1. Electricity production 2. Fabricate synthetic fuels to power our vehicles 3. Produce Fertilizers 4. Desalinate sea water 5. Process heat for industry

36 A supernova made the elements of the periodic table. Thorium Uranium

37 An Introduction Thorium Fuel Cycle

38 Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) Th-232 in Fertile Th-232 blanket Chemical separator Fissile U-233 core Chemical separator New U-233 fuel n n Heat Fission products out

39 Weinberg s Vision for our Energy Future Alvin Weinberg had a vision of our energy future. It would be clean and sustainable. As director of the Oak Ridge National Lab from he and his technical team made remarkable progress on this vision, culminating in the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment.

40 LFTR produces < 1% of the long-lived radiotoxic waste of today s reactors.

41 Conventional Light Water Reactor Containment Building

42 Uranium Oxide Fuel Pellets

43 LFTR Passive Safety Freeze Plug Drain Tank

44 LFTR Advantages Cannot Meltdown Walk away safe No Long Lived Nuclear Waste (No ~300,000 year storage) ~1% of the waste requiring ~300 yr. storage Low capital costs Low recurring costs (No Fuel Fabrication)

45 LFTR Advantages Millions of years of fuel One cu foot of dirt has the energy of 5 barrels of oil. The thorium in all of the land on earth can power the world for longer than 1 million years (utilizing soil to only a depth of 10 feet)

46 Why Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR) Proven Concepts MSRE operated for 4 years at ORNL and proved much of the LFTR concepts. Proliferation Resistant. U-233 is highly unsuitable for nuclear weapons due to small amounts of U232. No operational nuclear weapons use U233. US tested only one weapon that used U233. Military Effects Test (MET) Operation Teapot, 1955) Pu239/U233 core. 22KT yield. 33KT expected. No fissile material in the spent fuel (waste) Higher Temperatures LFTR enable the production synthetic fuels and fertilizers.

47 Motor Fuel Less Expensive than from Oil Dissociate water at 900 o C to make hydrogen, with sulfur-iodine process. Ammonia CO2 + 3 H2 CH3OH + H2O Dimethyl ether for diesel Methanol for gasoline

48 Why Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR) Higher Temperatures LFTR enable the production synthetic fuels and fertilizers. More efficient electricity production Waste heat can be used to desalinate sea water. LFTRs can be factory built, similar to Boeing aircraft production Common design and factory construction reduce cost

49 Emulate Boeing Mass Production LFTR Production Line One LFTR per day? Standardized Units Computer aided design, Engineering and Manufacturing $200 Million per unit?

50 The Energy From Thorium Foundation Purpose - Promote and educate on the adoption of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs) as a major element of US energy policy to achieve energy independence, economic growth and Sustainable Abundance : To enable the increase in the standard of living for everyone in the United States and on planet Earth by making available low cost, inexhaustible, clean Energy From Thorium! Lets make Energy the Bandwidth of tomorrow. With your help we will change the Regulatory Environment so LFTRs can be built and licensed in the US.

51 LFTR Challanges LFTR is not (yet) fully understood by regulatory agencies and officials. NRC takes years just to review a new reactor design. Need some way to cut through this RED TAPE.

52 EFTF: Monthly Google Plus Hang Outs Talk with a different expert every Month. Last Month it was Kirk Sorenson, founder of Flibe Energy. Participate live at Plus.Google.com and search for Energy From Thorium Watch real time from the Foundation Website

53 An Introduction to the Thorium Fuel Cycle

54 Why Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR) Thorium Element 90

55 Historical Energy Usage of USA

56 Approximate World Energy Consumption source breakdown 5.3 billion tonnes of coal (128 quads) 31.1 billion barrels of oil (180 quads) 2.92 tillion m trillion ft 3 of natural gas (105 quads) Hydro-Electric Power (18 quads) 65,000 tonnes of uranium ore (24 quads) Other (15 Quads) Total Consumption 424 Quads???????????????????????? 1 quad = 1 quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) BTUs (1,055,000,000,000,000,000 J)

57 Prosperity depends on energy. GDP per capita $50,000 $45,000 $40,000 $35,000 $30,000 $25,000 $20,000 $15,000 $10,000 $5,000 Nations with populations over 10 million. $ Annual kwh per capita

58 Advanced Nuclear Source Instantaneously released energy Average energy released (MeV) Kinetic energy of fission fragments Kinetic energy of prompt neutrons 4.9 Energy carried by prompt γ-rays 7.7 Energy from decaying fission products Energy of β -particles 5.2 Energy of anti-neutrinos 6.9 Energy of delayed γ-rays 5.0 Sum, less escaping anti-neutrinos Energy released when those prompt neutrons which don't (re)produce fission are captured Energy converted into heat in an operating thermal nuclear reactor

59 Fuel Results Coupled with Primary Coolant Coolant Temperature Pressure Moderate Temperature ( C) High Temperature ( C) Atmospheric- Pressure Operation Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible but unattractive, thorium oxide fuel very difficult to process, requires additional moderator material Thermal U-235: Feasible but unattractive, requires additional moderator material Fast Pu-239/U-238: Attractive implementation, coolant choice minimizes moderation Liquid-Metal-Cooled Reactors Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible and attractive, thorium and uranium tetrafluorides easy to process, basis of LFTR concept Thermal U-235: Feasible but unattractive, requires enriched fuel, limited U-235 Fast Pu-239/U-238: Somewhat feasible, fluoride salts moderate neutrons, basis of MSFR concept Liquid-Fluoride Reactors High-Pressure Operation Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible but unattractive, thorium oxide fuel very difficult to process, demonstrated at Shippingport LWBR Thermal U-235: Feasible and basis for nearly all reactors in the world today, limited U-235 Fast Pu-239/U-238: Infeasible, water coolant is moderates neutrons and no fast spectrum Water-Cooled Reactors Thermal U-233/Th-232: Feasible but unattractive, thorium oxide fuel very difficult to process, demonstrated at Ft. St. Vrain HTGR Thermal U-235: Feasible implementation, basis of PBMR, VHTR, GT-MHR concepts, limited U-235 Fast Pu-239/U-238: Feasible implementation, fuel processing difficult, basis of GCFR and EM2 concepts Gas-Cooled Reactors

60 Fuel Results Coupled with Primary Coolant Coolant Temperature Pressure Atmospheric- Pressure Operation High-Pressure Operation Moderate Temperature ( C) Liquid-Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (uranium/plutonium) Liquid-Metal-Cooled Reactors Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) (thorium232-uranium233 ) (Flibe Energy) Enriched uranium water-cooled reactors (light-water and heavy-water) (uranium ) Water-Cooled Reactors High Temperature ( C) Liquid-Fluoride Reactors Pebble-Bed and Prismatic-Fueled High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors Gas-Cooled Fast Breeder Reactors (uranium/plutonium) Gas-Cooled Reactors

61 Eugene Wigner Eugene Wigner Conceived the Thorium Uranium Breeder Reactor. Co-authored Numerous Patents on Light Water Reactors with Alvin Weinberg 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics

62 Conclusions Thorium is a natural, abundant energy source of extraordinary energy density and the technology to unlock the potential of thorium is real and has been demonstrated. Thorium represents a practically inexhaustible source of energy for the US and the world. Thorium and the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) can enable True Energy Independence. Learn more at: Google Hangout