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Rontini599
Admin Group Joined: 23 Aug 2016 Location: Sheridan, WY Status: Offline Points: 706 |
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Posted: 02 Oct 2020 at 3:10pm |
The U.S. Government Made a Powerful New Kind of Nuclear Fuel Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, September 24 Could a new blended thorium fuel improve U.S. nuclear power’s outlook? Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory have a new fuel called Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life, or ANEEL. It's a proprietary mix of thorium and low-enriched uranium, and Forbes’s James Conca says it could help close the gap in a near future where nuclear seems like the only option. The mix itself is a secret, but thorium—pictured above in pellet form—has continued to gain momentum as an alternative nuclear fuel. “[T]horium has a higher melting point and lower operating temperature which makes it inherently safer than straight U and more resistant to core meltdowns,” Conca explains: “The ANEEL fuel has a very high fuel burn-up rate[, which] means the fuel stays in the reactor longer and gets more energy out of the same amount of fuel. [It’s] prohibitively difficult to make into a weapon. [And] ANEEL fuel will reduce the waste by over 80% and end up with much less plutonium. Less spent fuel means less refueling, less cost, less fuel handling and less volume to dispose.” Thorium has a number of advantages over uranium, and especially over highly enriched uranium. Yes, thorium must be paired with at least a small amount of a fissile material, because it isn’t naturally fissile on its own. But it’s much more plentiful than uranium and found in high quantities in the kinds of developing markets where Conca says nuclear will be clutch in coming decades—starting with India. |
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My heroes wear dog tags, not shoulder pads
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Tom McNulty
Rickover Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Delaware Status: Offline Points: 2082 |
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Too bad it'll have our military beholden to a foreign entity. No mention of cost since I understood it's not abundantly available. Of course, my Physics classes were many moons ago. But it does look promising.
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SSBN599B,SSBN600B,SSBN611G
USNR Beaumont, TX, USSVI Life Member Mid Atlantic Base Holland Club |
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Dr. Stan
Rickover Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Sevierville, TN Status: Offline Points: 7455 |
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It's too bad there aren't mountains of the stuff in the USA. |
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It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.~Abe Lincoln
SS-393, SSBN-610(B), SSBN-624(G), SSN-591 USSVI Life Member; Holland Club; Plank Owner, Smoky Mtn. Base |
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Rontini599
Admin Group Joined: 23 Aug 2016 Location: Sheridan, WY Status: Offline Points: 706 |
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Well we can buy from Brazil and Australia.
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My heroes wear dog tags, not shoulder pads
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