There's a pretty big deal going on for the future of Canadian Nuclear Fuel.
Often, when I meet people and the topic turns to nuclear energy, which I support, people without rote hostility to humanity's last best hope start telling me all about thorium. They read about it on the internet. (This happened most recently when I went to give blood and the guy checking me in, who had something of a scientific background, started chatting with me about "science" as a result of some ACS paraphernalia I had with me.)
I'm not really a thorium kind of guy; I favor the uranium/plutonium (transuranium) fuel cycle. I don't have anything against thorium, I just think the uranium based cycle is better.
This said there is one place where thorium is a very desirable fuel for a part of the existing nuclear fleet, the marvelous fleet of heavy water reactors, first developed and commercialized in Canada as the CANDU, and now found in other parts of the world, notably India, Romania and South Korea. In these reactors, owing to their very high neutron economy owing to the very low thermal neutron capture cross section of deuterium with respect to protium (hydrogen's dominant isotope), thorium is a thermal breeder, it makes more fissionable fuel than it consumes.
I have long supported the inclusion of thorium in CANDUs, which is an important goal of India's nuclear program, since India has huge thorium reserves. Canada of course, has huge uranium reserves. Used as unenriched fuel, the use of uranium in CANDUS is fairly inefficient, giving low burn ups. Including thorium can drastically raise burnups in CANDUs (A "burnup" corresponds to miles per gallon in automobiles.) Moreover, reprocessing CANDU fuel that has run on thorium will recover uranium that is enriched (with fissionable U-233) and ready to be recycled even after dilution with depleted uranium. The end result will be the important and essential production of plutonium and neptunium; something essential to addressing climate change in the fastest possible way.
Hence, I was pleased to come across this note: Preparations begin for thorium-HALEU fuel regulatory review.
The Chicago-based fuel innovation company is developing ANEEL fuel - the name is taken from Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life - for use in pressurised heavy water and Candu reactors. High-burnup irradiation testing and qualification of the fuel is currently under way at the Advanced Test Reactor at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL), using test pellets manufactured by the company in partnership with Texas A&M University and INL. The company is also collaborating with US company Centrus as a supplier of HALEU.
The high-burnup advanced fuel can improve the accident tolerance characteristics and economics of heavy water reactors while reducing the amount of waste generated by as much as 87.5%, the company says, and is proliferation-resistant...
..."The initiation of the CNSC pre-licensing process marks a significant leap towards unlocking ground-breaking performance with heavy water reactors by utilising thorium and HALEU," Clean Core CEO Mehul Shah said. "Once approved for use in Canada, ANEEL Fuel will make CANDU reactors safer, cleaner, and cost effective, while supporting Canada's long-term clean energy goals. Future use by a Canadian licensee also sends a clear signal to current and potential users of heavy water reactors who could benefit from cheaper carbon-free nuclear power that mitigates the concerns of weapons proliferation and waste disposal."
This is very good news for future generations.
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