This Could Solve Nuclear Energy's Biggest Problem
This Could Solve Nuclear Energy's Biggest Problem
Transmutex's brilliant solution to thorium reactors.
Nuclear energy is far from the boogeyman many think it is. Its carbon emissions are as low as solar, it produces significantly less environmental radiation than coal power plants, and its death rate is substantially lower than any renewable or fossil fuel power, even if disasters such as Chornobyl or Fukushima are taken into account. Even storing nuclear waste is far from the conundrum that many claim it is, as nuclear waste is more like glass or ceramic than glowing green goop, and as such, storing it safely long-term is feasible. Despite this, the public, politicians and policymakers see nuclear waste as a major reason to avoid nuclear energy. But, thanks to Transmutex, this problem could be easily resolved. You see, they have developed a technology that dramatically reduces the radioactivity of nuclear waste by 80% and reduces the time it remains radioactive from several hundred thousand years to just 500. What’s more, this technology can enable nuclear reactors to use our current stockpile of nuclear waste as nuclear fuel! But is this too good to be true?
Let’s start with the science behind Transmutex’s technology.
A typical nuclear reactor uses a specific isotope of uranium, uranium 235 (U235), as fuel. It’s incredibly difficult to isolate this isotope, so nuclear fuel is only 5% U235, with the rest being another more common isotope, uranium 238 (U238). U235 by itself isn’t particularly radioactive, but in a process known as fission, it can absorb a slow-moving neutron and transmute into U236, which is highly unstable and radioactively decays almost instantly, splitting into two smaller atoms, releasing three slow-moving neutrons and a tonne of energy. These neutrons can then go on to cause three other U235 atoms to undergo fission, creating a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. All a nuclear reactor does is control how many of these neutrons go on to cause fission and convert the released energy into electricity.
However, the fission by-products of U235 are both highly radioactive and toxic. Not only that, but some of the U238 also reacts with the neutrons, becoming far more toxic and far more radioactive by-products than those of U235. As such, even after processing, nuclear waste needs to be locked away for over 240,000 years before its radiation levels drop to benign levels.
However, we don’t have to use U235. We can actually power a reactor with U238 or an isotope of thorium known as thorium 232 (Th232).
You see, U235 fissions with ‘slow neutrons’, but U238 and Th232 fission with ‘fast neutrons’ that have more energy, but in a roundabout way. U238 absorbs fast neutrons, converting them into plutonium 239 (Pu239), which is fissionable. Pu239 then captures another neutron and undergoes fission. When Pu239 undergoes fission, it also releases a tonne of energy, but this time in the form of fast neutrons. Similarly, Th232, upon absorbing a fast neutron, transmutes to uranium 233 (U233), which is also fissionable via fast neutrons and releases its energy as fast neutrons. As such, U238 and Th232 can undergo the same nuclear chain reaction once transmuted by a fast neutron. Moreover, their fission by-products are significantly less radioactive and less toxic than those of U235, only staying radioactive for 5% of the time of typical nuclear waste. In fact, Chinese scientists have claimed that waste from thorium will be a thousand times less hazardous than that from uranium.
Reactors that utilise these fast neutron fission reactions are called fast reactors, which is what Transmutex is developing.
You see, there is still a tonne of U238 in nuclear waste from typical reactors. In fact, the US’s nuclear waste stockpile has enough U238 to power the country entirely at its current energy consumption for 100 years using fast reactors!
Transmutex’s idea is to combine nuclear waste with Th232 and use it as nuclear fuel. A particle accelerator outside their reactor would fire fast neutrons into the reactor, transmuting the fuel into fissionable isotopes and starting the chain reaction, producing energy. Combining nuclear waste with Th232 is an easier and cheaper way to produce viable fast reactor fuel than processing nuclear waste into viable U238-rich fuel. And, as with other fast reactors, this would produce far less volume of waste per kWh of energy produced, and the waste it does produce is less toxic and less radioactive than the slow reactor nuclear waste we currently use. What’s more, in the case of a nuclear incident, the particle accelerator can be switched off, rendering the nuclear fuel inert and safe within milliseconds.
In theory, if Transmutex could bring this concept to fruition, it would be incredible! It solves the nuclear waste issue but could also significantly increase the safety of nuclear reactors and even reduce the already incredibly low carbon emissions of nuclear power, as most of these emissions come from mining and refining uranium. But there are some significant hurdles. For one, particle accelerators are incredibly expensive and complex, often costing billions of dollars to build. Unless Transmutex can find a way to lower this cost, their technology might simply be financially unviable. But if they can crack this problem, their reactors could be the closest thing we have to a perfect energy source.
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Sources: TransmuteX, Will Lockett, Will Lockett, Stiffed, IE