tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post8358730746831942727..comments2023-12-16T02:54:11.470-08:00Comments on Left Atomics: Toward a Thorium Economy: the Future of Nuclear Energy Part II: the technology. A discussion with D. Walters.D. Waltershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04534202024416062943noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-23951357640791858842009-05-17T09:52:00.000-07:002009-05-17T09:52:00.000-07:00Marcel writes:
"The urgency for uranium or ...Marcel writes: <br /><br />"The urgency for uranium or thorium breeding technologies only becomes necessary if global commercial nuclear capacity increases by 5 to 10 times current levels. "<br /><br />As it must do, in just the next few decades, if we are to rapidly decarbonise our energy supply and avoid even more serious global warming.<br /><br />The imperative to reduce emissions is NOW, so the LFTR and IFR technologies must be pursued NOW. I totally agree that we should also be deploying HWR technologies that can use Th, like the ACR-1000. But we cannot afford to sit on our laurels and delay RD&D of the LFTR and IFR for another decade or two because we imagine demand for new nuclear on a large scale will take that long to materialise.Barry Brookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14508590187459871783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-73719118299035903312009-05-17T06:33:00.000-07:002009-05-17T06:33:00.000-07:00From the "green fredom" paper, it's far clear (at ...From the "green fredom" paper, it's far clear (at least to me) which are the energy inputs of the process, they claim the net electrical consumption is about 55 kJ per mole of CO2, including the hydrogen produced as byproduct, plus about 100 kJ/mole of low level heat (at which temps?). But I don' t understand which is the energy input (electricity or/and heat) of the global process and if for a certain extent it's possible to use low temperature heat, rather than electricity, given the high availability of "free" low grade heat from LFTRs (if used in cogeneration with production of heat + electricity)Alex De Maidahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07717868568371952770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-82868592896619917682009-05-17T01:12:00.000-07:002009-05-17T01:12:00.000-07:00Using the 'green freedom' concept, an existing gen...Using the 'green freedom' concept, an existing generation 3 nuclear reactor (1.1 GWe) could produce 18,000-bbl/day of gasoline or 5000 tonnes a day of methanol. <br /><br /><br />http://newpapyrusmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/01/nuclear-synfuel-economy.html<br /><br />http://newpapyrusmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/11/gasoline-from-air-and-water_24.html<br /><br />http://www.lanl.gov/news/newsbulletin/pdf/Green_Freedom_Overview.pdfMarcel F. Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16245086958213100840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-82689159591978386652009-05-15T16:25:00.000-07:002009-05-15T16:25:00.000-07:00[...so we have smaller sizes of LFTRs and, it's pr...[...so we have smaller sizes of LFTRs and, it's process heat, we can deploy these reactors in thousands of industries around the world.<br /><br />"Wait. Go back. What's this 'synthetic fuel' you mentioned?"<br /><br />Syn-fuel can be made by combining hydrogen, carbon and oxygen atoms in the proper chemical compound....<br />In effect, we can replace all liquid fuels, which is about 50% of the worlds energy form ]<br /><br />I think the right number is more in the range of 40% or less...<br />However, have you, David, ever deepened the numbers of the process? Do you have a rough estimate of the heat/electricity required to produce an unit of volume (liter or gallon) of methanol, and the operating conditions needed (pressures and temperatures), for example?<br /><br />I suspect that having an high temperature reactor allow a great degree of flexibility in using low temperature heat (with almost no loss in electricity production) for many industrial and civil purposes, for example, district heating, seawater desalination and indeed liquid fuels production (besides, of course, using directly and very efficiently the electricity to power electric heat pumps and plugins vehicles or electrified trains)Alex De Maidahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07717868568371952770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-61372187837148181212009-05-05T12:46:00.000-07:002009-05-05T12:46:00.000-07:00Ah, yes. I support this and we should do this in a...Ah, yes. I support this and we should do this in any event, LFTR or no LFTR. The transition to even solid form thorium fuel would be a boom to the market for nuclear.<br /><br />Indian's are not the only ones interested in heavy water reactors using Th. The Koreans, to my knowledge, are the only ones working on a full scale DUPIC model. Know of any others?DWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03070034894266417461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-10059855662175527452009-04-29T04:10:00.000-07:002009-04-29T04:10:00.000-07:00David:
I am not sure if you read Marcel's comment ...David:<br />I am not sure if you read Marcel's comment thoroughly. He stated that the ACR-1000 can use THORIUM now. It is has great fuel flexibility and is not limited to using natural uranium or a DUPIC cycle.<br /><br />That is one of the reasons that Indian nuclear engineers have always paid a lot of attention to heavy water reactors.Rod Adamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652375336090790205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-37188745228376675352009-04-28T19:16:00.000-07:002009-04-28T19:16:00.000-07:00I agree 100% Marcel. But this was to focus on Th o...I agree 100% Marcel. But this was to focus on Th only. Between now and the LFTR, the CANDU/DUPIC can and must play a role.DWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03070034894266417461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-320690524543640637.post-77042341757159629422009-04-28T10:52:00.000-07:002009-04-28T10:52:00.000-07:00Good post. And I'm glad to see new post on Left At...Good post. And I'm glad to see new post on Left Atomics again. <br /><br />Why wait for the LFTR when CANDUs can utilize thorium right now? The new ACR-1000 reactor is supposed to be ready for sale as a commercial reactor by 2016.<br /><br />The urgency for uranium or thorium breeding technologies only becomes necessary if global commercial nuclear capacity increases by 5 to 10 times current levels. <br /><br />But even under stressed terrestrial uranium supplies, there's enough marine uranium to supply total energy for the entire planet for more than 3000 years using current nuclear technology.<br /><br />http://newpapyrusmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/10/fueling-our-nuclear-future.htmlMarcel F. Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16245086958213100840noreply@blogger.com