On Sat, Apr 4, 2015 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List < [email protected]> wrote:>>
> Also, and this is a major point in its favor LFTR reactor types would be > walk away safe. Because the U233 fuel plus fertile thorium is solution in > the fluoride salt coolant a simple and effective failure plug could be > designed in at the low point of the inner core circulating design. If the > reactor ever started overheating the plug would be made of a material with > a substantially lower melting point than the vessel. In other words it > would fail first; guaranteed. And that's not the only inherent safety feature, because the fuel is a liquid, Thorium dissolved in un-corrosive molten Fluoride salt, if things get too hot the liquid expands and the fuel gets less dense and so the reaction slows down. The operators wouldn't have to do anything, it's just physics. A LFTR is walkaway safe. > > Another advantage of the LFTR design is that they have a broader neutron > bandwidth (being able to utilize both fast neutrons as well as slower > neutrons). I guess one could say LFTR has a higher neutron efficiency; > being able to use them across a broader spectrum of energies. Actually compared with the Uranium fuel cycle the Thorium fuel cycle is neutron poor, a LFTR produces enough neutrons to burn up 100% of the Thorium but there isn't a lot of wiggle room, however this is an advantage not a disadvantage. If somebody tried to secretly siphon off some of the U233 produced in a reactor to make a bomb the reactor would simply stop and it would be hard to keep that secret, also fewer neutrons means less damage to the equipment, you already don't have to worry about the most important maintenance problem that a conventional reactor has, cracks in the solid fuel rods caused by neutrons, because a LFTR has no solid fuel rods, it's fuel is a liquid and you can't crack a liquid. There is a excellent video about LFTR's, it's not short but it's packed with information and well worth your time: /www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4 John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
