EMMA ring and ERLP accelerator (via Daresbury & Wikipedia)
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, many have been searching harder for an alternative to Uranium based nuclear energy generation. Alternative thinking, as a majority, was put aside in the effort to develop technology that could work alongside of, and benefit from research pertaining to, nuclear weapons. Research at UK's Daresbury science park have brought back an old alternative to uranium, thorium.
Thorium, discovered in 1828, has long been known to potentially have the same energy producing qualities as uranium. In 1996, the International Atomic Energy Agency began a study over the use of thorium reactors. Some of the benefits show it to be a clear winner over uranium or plutonium. Thorium produces 10 to 10,000 times less radioactive waste. The thorium used in the fission reactors come out of the earth in the state needed for usage. It is difficult to pull weapons-grade materials from a thorium reactor. And the nuclear chain reaction in thorium requires priming, and the reaction stops if the energy introduced stops. In other words, thorium will never produce a meltdown. Finally, the thorium supply is much more abundant that uranium. The study found that the raw supply will not be exhausted, in used as an energy source, for 1,000 years.
At Daresbury recently, the EMMA (Electron Machine with Many Applications) particle accelerator was show to be able to produce the energy needed to foster the chain reaction in thorium. Such facilities, and energy needed, does make the use of thorium much more expensive than reactors today. Along with the study on thorium, the Britain team at Daresbury are also researching the use of particle accelerators to treat hard to reach cancer in patients.
Sound like they are doing some fine work across the pond.
Eavesdropper
Thorium fun facts: The name is derived from Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Attomic number 90, it has 90 protons and electrons. 4 are valence electrons. It is a solid, white like metal.
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