Thorium-fueled Molten Salt Reactors

Which is why I pointed out that LFTR designers routinely look to making sure it is not attractive to try.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Ok, let us check the semantics. Is wood a fuel?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

I disagree: it is possible to create a power plant that produce weapons grade plutonium and lots of electricity for civilian use, in fact it has been done already:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BN-350_reactor

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Yes it is. Is dirt a fuel?

 

Then thorium is a fuel.
Wood does not actually burn. The chemical processes of the fire heat the wood till it evolves volatile factors that burn. It also leaves behind non volatile substances that smolder (combust slowly).
In the analogous manner, thorium undergoes a transformation that allows it to fission.
So, wood undergoes a chemical process in which its products burn. It is a chemical fuel.
Thorium undergoes a nuclear process in which its products fission. It is a nuclear fuel.
Sunlight and water and CO2 are the source of wood energy. It is solar energy.
Dirt is the source of thorium. It is terrestrial energy.
http://www.terrestrialenergyinc.com/
http://flibe-energy.com/

 

You didn't answer my question. Is dirt fuel?

 

"Dirt" is a poorly defined term that has many possible constituencies. Dirt might be inorganic granular substance, it might be organic detritus, it may be coal dust according to some definitions. Without a more explicit definition, I will not answer.

But if you go around the planet and take 1,000,000 random 1cc samples (1m[sup]3[/sup]) from below the topsoil and mix them, you have a good chance of having enough thorium therein to provide the energy equivalent of about 40 m[sup]3[/sup] of petroleum.

 

Dirt. The stuff on the floor of the forest. The stuff trees grow in. Soil. Regular, unprocessed dirt.

 

That stuff may have enough organics in it to sustain some degree of combustion. Forest fires have been known to smolder underground for weeks before bursting back into open fire. But I doubt you would get a typical sand-dune to burn.

 

So is it fuel? Can you run the US on burning dirt? (would solve lots of problems if you could.)

 

You might be able too if there was enough of that type of it. But I suspect it would have some undesirable side effects, like killing all the forests. And I am pretty sure it would not be economical.

 

So basically - no. Wood is a fuel but dirt is not.

Then thorium is not a fuel either.

Wood and U233 are fuels. They can be used in reactions that generate heat, and this heat can be used for all sorts of energy production (electrical in this case.)
Thorium and dirt are not fuels. They are fertile substances that can be used to breed U233 or trees. THOSE fuels can then be used to generate heat.

 

You are technically correct, except by this logic wood is not a fuel, but is a source* for the destructive distillation gas it can produce - they are fuel. Wood does not acturally burn,but when heated near red hot, it decomposes into fuel.

* much like Thorium is not a fuel but a source of the fuel U233.

 

Precicely!
Either wood and thorium ARE fuels or they are NOT fuels, as they are analogous in the chemical and nuclear realms.

 

Great meeting in Columbus Ohio last week. "Opportunities in Nuclear Power". Supposed to be an annual gig. Check it out next year.