Thorium is highly abundant in relativity to uranium. Some of the fission products, those that block fission the most, are gasses — in LWR they are carefully trapped in the pellets, in MSR they bubble right out of the fuel salt and are collected. LFTR updates recently include DOE GAIN funding vouchers awarded in 2018 and 2019 to Flibe Energy. What is a Molten Salt Reactor? Flibe’s liquid fluoride thorium reactor is expected to cost several hundred million dollars to build. Imagine a few standard “18-wheeler” shipping containers brought in after 2017 Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria, or 2018 Typhoon Mangkhut, providing 100MW electricity and desalinating water. Also, the reactor in question was a liquid flouride uranium rather than thorium reactor. No “PUREX reprocessing” needed, simply extract the uranium and plutonium (including fission products) from the fuel rod, and put it in a MSR. Two of the present day start-up-companies developing MSR Technology, Terrestrial Energy and Thorcon Power, claim that their business case shows that their molten salt based power systems can produce energy cheaper than coal. Most MSR designs, including LFTR, use over 99% of the fuel. What’s Better than Storing Nuclear Waste? This is relevant to the licencing cost, but also to deployment times. The cost has largely been solved and transmission/storage solutions will be deployed as needed. Nevertheless, some statements regarding the cost bandwidth of MSR’s are worth noting. Image “How Does a Fluoride Reactor Use Thorium” is from PDF Kirk Sorensen – Thorium Energy Alliance. The acid is already killing plankton and other ocean life: the carbonic acid dissolves their “shells”. ), Instead of thorium, a Molten Salt Reactor can use uranium-235 or plutonium waste, from LWR and other reactors. The LFTR reactor works by combining thorium and uranium dissolved in liquid fluoride, lithium, and beryllium and starting a cycle that replenishes these elements with chemical combinations. “…extreme caution is necessary whenever one speaks of untried reactors”. This philosophy is relevant for any effort to develop a power technology that aims for being cost competitive. Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors. (Using thorium in a solid fueled, water cooled reactor, such as India is doing, does not give the safety and waste-reducing benefits of a molten fueled, salt cooled reactor.). Carbon dioxide in the air enters the oceans, making acid. We know Molten Salt Reactors work since we built and operated one — decades ago! Another factor relevant to the cost per kWh is that thorium-MSR’s are expected to perform with higher efficiency, due to their higher operating temperature of up to 700 °C. Molten Salt Reactors vs India’s Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, Economics of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors. On the other side, it is expected that a well-designed thorium MSR includes a unit that will perform inline cleaning of the salt mixture, a feature that as yet has to be developed and will add to the cost. Conventional nuclear fission reactors are the safest energy in terms of deaths per terawatt hour. For a LFTR, thorium is a cheap, plentiful fuel; (other MSR designs could eliminate LWR waste by using it as fuel); For a LFTR, no expensive enrichment is required, simply add solid or molten thorium or plutonium to the molten fuel; for a thermal-spectrum MSR use low-enriched uranium; for a fast-spectrum MSR, un-enriched or depleted uranium can be used. The above figures are the capital cost for LWR’s. The fuel cost is significantly lower than a solid-fuel reactor. The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor is a type of Molten Salt Reactor. It contains no super-heated pressurized water, and hence will not need this large dome. MSRE was a 7.4 MW th test reactor simulating the neutronic "kernel" of a type of epithermal thorium molten salt breeder reactor called the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR). The high temperature also allows for excess heat to be used for powering other industrial processes such as hydrogen production and desalination. Without needing a huge steam containment building (since there is no high pressure and no steam), MSRs such as LFTR use a much smaller site. (Scroll to see all) Molten Fuel; Salt Cooled; Inherent Safety; Easy Construction & Siting; Lower Cost; Industrial Heat. [ 1] The thermodynamic efficiency through the usage of a closed Brayton Cycle can approach around 54% due to the high temperatures the LFTRs run at [1] Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) is an innovative design for the thermal breeder reactor that has important potential benefits over the traditional reactor design. One concept is a hardened concrete facility below ground with a concrete lid on ground level to protect it from aircraft impact and other possible forms of assault. By utilizing thorium fuel in a thermal neutron spectrum, the reactor is able to utilize the energy (Compare to LWR: $50-60 Million/yr.) Convert 800kg to be stored for 100,000+ years, into 135kg to store for 350 years and 665kg for 10 years. The rest of the uranium is considered “waste”, to be stored for over 100,000 years. Thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It contains U-232 that can lead to a formation a strong gamma radiation field. Any leftover radioactive waste cannot be used to create weaponry. Discussion in 'Energy, Environment, and Policy ... transmission and storage. Much of their work culminated with the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). Herbert MacPherson, who was in charge of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment at the time, is even more specific in his cost estimation. Yes! The total cost of developing MSR technology and building assembly line production (like assembly line production of aircraft or ships, with better safety standards than is achievable with on-site construction, at much lower cost) will be much less than the $10-$12 Billion for a single new solid-fueled water-cooled reactor or single nuclear waste disposal plant. In 1970 MSR was estimated to have 1% of capital cost compared to the LWR. The high heat of a LFTR (over twice what a LWR can generate) can split CO2 and split water, so making gasoline will be affordable. In case of a thorium MSR, 3,2 kilograms of thorium per day needs to be mined to produce the same amount of energy. LFTRs are quite unlike today's operating commercial power reactors. In a light water reactor the fuel cost form a large share of the operating costs, but they hardly impact the electricity price, which is determined by capital costs, and infrastructure improvements enforced by ever changing regulations. It is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, where it is about three times more abundant than uranium. It is already in a chemically stable form as a fluoride. Fuel for 1GW electricity in a LFTR or any MSR: $10,000/yr. MSRs are less expensive and more environmentally friendly than other sources of base-load power or grid power storage, needed to supplement wind and/or solar power. It does mention thorium on the page but not for this reactor. After that, radiation is below background radiation levels. Need to communicate your complex information clearly? Higher fission rate increases the temperature, which makes the fuel salt less dense, lowering the fission rate — all Molten Salt Reactors are. The objective of the liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) design proposed by Flibe Energy [] is to develop a nuclear power plant that will produce electrical energy at low cost. (We’ve been mainly using the Light Water Reactor, LWR, with solid fuel in pellets cooled by high-pressure water.). Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) took the lead in researching MSRs through the 1960s. A MSR’s waste is safe (radiation levels below the original uranium ore and below background radiation) within 350 years. ... We are developing Thorium fission which poses considerable further benefits in terms of low cost and high safety. It has been suggested that based on its size and design, it may be feasible to produce 100 megawatt thorium-MSR’s factories for around $200 million apiece, similar to the way Boeing produces large aircraft in factories, which would come down to at $2,00 per watt, lower than the capital cost of a coal power plant. SMART THORIUM Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor. (Standard industrial processing inefficiency of 0.1% leaves 1kg uranium; we can do better than that, but still much less per gigawatt-year than the 5500 kg uranium left in an open ash pile from an average USA coal plant! LFTRs could even be deployed for military field use or disaster relief. What is a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor? But some authors argue that construction cost only explains a modest part of the capital cost required for nuclear power: a substantial part of the capital cost for nuclear power plants to the mandatory licensing costs. (Unfortunately, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says they will start writing licensing and regulations in 30 years. This is comparable to car licensing: the license is granted to a type. The thorium-232 captures neutrons from the reactor core to become protactinium-233, which decays (27-day half-life) to U-233. Thorium is very insoluble, which is why it is plentiful in sands but not in seawater, in contrast to uranium. In his memoirs, Alvin Weinberg, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the time of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, cites from his 1964 ‘State of the Lab’ year-end speech. It is a completely different nuclear reactor than we have been using, with molten fuel cooled by stable salts. While the reactor can be used to consume any fissile material, it is particularly efficient using the Thorium fuel cycle. (Hargraves & Moir, 2010) . Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor3. Liquid fluoride thorium reactor. An important reason for the higher costs of LWR’s is in the nuclear power plant construction. The salts cost roughly $150/kg, and … The concrete is mainly there for shielding, it has no pressure containment function, and hence quality requirements are more modest, but quite a lot will be needed. This way, the LFTR uses/recycles 99% of its fuel while other reactors can drop to as low as 2%. Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors can be ultra-safe, no nuclear waste, hyper-efficient and very low cost. Simply put, assertions made on the cost of MSR are inevitably speculative at the present time. (As a bonus, the rare earth materials we currently mine are almost always found with thorium, which is currently considered a “nuclear waste” though it has one of the lowest levels of radiation of any radioactive material, radiation stopped by a thin layer of plastic or paper; when we use MSR we mine a little less rare earth materials and leave a little less thorium “waste”. Easy siting, no large water source needed, no large safety zone required (because there is no water and no high pressure). However the cost of machining tools, remote maintenance of radioactive primary systems and decommissioning were still unsure at the time (MacPherson, 1985), (Weinberg, 1994). Mass produced thorium-MSR’s could even replace the power generation components in existing fossil fuel powered plants, integrating with the existing electrical distribution infrastructure which would also save large amounts of money (Deutch, et al., 2009, p. 6), (Juhasz, et al., 2009, p. 4), (Hargraves & Moir, 2010, pp. Molten Salt Reactors can be designed to output wide ranges of heat, for different industrial processes. ), Most of the fission products are valuable for industrial use. With sufficient R&D funding (around US $1 billion), five years to commercialization is entirely realistic (including construction of factories, less than US $5 Billion), and another five years for a national roll-out is feasible. Forum on Physics and Society. No water source required. 80% of the new reactors being built are being built in or by China, South Korea and Russia. Economics of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors. I'm guessing it was their day off. There are several types of nuclear reactor possible, that can fission All that uranium, plutonium, and other transuranic elements. (MSR can transfer heat to existing equipment such as steam generators, for example replacing the boiler at a coal plant, but doesn’t use water anywhere in the reactor.) In addition, the primary system is pressurized and primary system system failure is a severe safety accident, causing the primary steel components to be overdimensioned and constructed and tested following the highest quality standards available. Well, that is waste only if we only use LWR, or similar solid-fueled types of nuclear reactors. Fuel input per gigawatt output 1 ton raw thorium 5. A Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) is a type of Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) that can use inexpensive Thorium for fuel (thorium becomes uranium inside the reactor). It can potentially produce valuable products in addition to electrical energy that will enhance its competitiveness relative to low-cost natural gas and petroleum. Thorium is usually thrown away during the process of mining rare-earth metals. Total to develop LFTR technology and a factory to mass-produce them, will be less than the $10-12 Billion cost of a. Fuel can be added as needed, to keep the fuel density steady (just above the minimum to maintain fission). The 500MW molten salt nuclear reactor: Safe, half the price of light water, and shipped to order. The liquid fluoride thorium reactor (acronym LFTR; often pronounced lifter) is a type of molten salt reactor.LFTRs use the thorium fuel cycle with a fluoride-based, molten, liquid salt for fuel.In a typical design, the liquid is pumped between a critical core and an external heat exchanger where the heat is transferred to a nonradioactive secondary salt. Because there is not an infrastructure in place to support thorium technologies, the cost of start-up would need to include the cost to implement administrative oversight of this technology. The molten fuel then drains to passive cooling tanks where fission is impossible; Even if something (e.g. After a few years, radioactive decay brings them below background radiation, ready for use. The liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is a heterogeneous MSR design which breeds its U-233 fuel from a fertile blanket of lithium-beryllium fluoride (FLiBe) salts with thorium fluoride. Researchers are exploring methods of using MSR heat to extract CO2 from solid materials containing a lot of CO2, store the carbon and release or use the oxygen, and then we could put those CO2-absorbing materials into the ocean to remove CO2 from the water. To produce 1 gigawatt electricity for a year, takes 800kg to 1000kg of thorium or uranium/plutonium “waste”. The Forum on Physics and Society (FPS) is a forum of the American Physical Society, organized in 1971 to address issues related … Their approach to handling the high licensing cost of molten salt reactors is to basically license a single design, then stick to that design. LFTR – A Nuclear Reactor That Can’t Melt Down? A slightly different type of MSR can consume the uranium/plutonium waste from solid-fueled reactors as fuel. (Compare that 1000kg with 135kg for 350 years, to 250,000kg uranium to make 35,000kg enriched uranium for a solid-fueled reactor like LWR, for that same gigawatt-year electricity, all needing storage for 100,000+ years. Transatomic Power Corporation (Massachusetts USA) Founded in 2010, Transatomic is the only company which has disclosed their funding amounts, 3 rounds totaling $5.5 million from investors that included Peter Thiel. By Graham Templeton on March 13, 2013 at 10:33 am; Comment Weinberg’s words also apply to the subject of the cost of the power produced by future thorium MSR’s. This will not only involve the designing and building the first thorium MSR, it will also involve setting up a proper licensing framework, which will be largely design specific, and requires the initiation of the thorium fuel cycle. World resources of Thorium would last for some thousands of years, making it a truly sustainable form of energy. Ralph Moir has published 10 papers on molten-salt reactors during Ambient-pressure operation makes MSRs easier to build while costing less (no high-pressure steam containment building, no high-pressure pipes); Operating cost is less since the inherent safety of MSR means less complex systems than the LWR (every LWR requires multiple-redundant high-pressure systems); Fuel cost is lower since no manufacturing fuel pellets (LWR pellets have to contain fission products under very high pressure) or fuel rods. One difference is that LWR designs need a large reinforced concrete dome constructed to accommodate for a possible steam explosion, in case of a pressure breach. One might argue that an MSR prototype successfully operated from 1965-1969, which was indeed the case, but the present day licensing procedure has not yet taken place. A thorium-MSR operates at atmospheric pressure. In 2004, the proposed cost for a new prototype system in the United States were listed as being “less than $1 billion” with operational costs of about $100 million per year. One of the companies mentioned above displays a cost philosophy that is not specific to any design. Georgia power’s share is around $6.1 billion, while “remaining ownership of the two reactors is split among Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power), and Dalton Utilities”. Higher temperatures are favourable for conversion of thermal to electrical energy, leading to conversion efficiencies of 45%-50% instead of the 33% typical for coal and traditional nuclear power plants. But some experts say new technologies, such as molten salt reactors, including liquid fluoride thorium reactors, are much safer and more efficient than today’s conventional reactors. Thorium exists in nature in a single isotopic form – T… Once in production, the authorities need only check if a specific car sticks to the design. A proven and highly promising thorium reactor technology is the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR; pronounced lifter) in which the fuel and coolant are one and the same, circulated either by gravity, or by pump. Thorium-MSR’s higher efficiency is due to its higher operating temperature of around 700 °C. Contact Me. Soil contains an average of around 6 parts per million (ppm) of thorium. Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) simply too dangerous -that’s why it was stopped. Some of these are historic, like the remark that Alvin Weinberg makes, a few lines after the reference to his 1964 speech: “I personally had concluded that the commercial success of nuclear power would have to await the development of the breeder” (in his memoirs, Weinberg uses the word ‘breeder’ when referring to thorium MSR’s). Build 100MW LFTRs on assembly lines: ~$200 Million. Standardized, modular designs will be crucial for developing cost competitive nuclear reactors, regardless of the technology used. Another factor relevant to the cost per kWh is that thorium-MSR’s are expected to perform with higher efficiency, due to their higher operating temperature of up to 700 °C. Other factors relevant to the cost profile are that a thorium-MSR can do without expensive emergency coolant injection systems, lower fuel costs (natural thorium instead of enriched uranium, no need for fuel element fabrication), simpler fuel handling (liquid fuel, no periodic shutdowns needed to replace solid fuel elements), smaller components, and a much higher energy efficiency. (Fast-spectrum molten salt reactors (FS-MSR) can use all isotopes of uranium, not just the 0.7% U-235 in natural uranium — with all the safety and stability of MSR.) As was stated above, it is impossible to either confirm or reject such claims where it concerns untried reactors. Development of LFTR equipment technology, testing of the design and construction, and construction of factories to produce them: ~$5Billion. Another reason for high construction costs is that most of the existing nuclear power plants have their own design. Molten Salt Reactors are Generation IV nuclear fission reactors that use molten salt as either the primary reactor coolant or as the fuel itself; they trace their origin to a series of experiments directed by Alvin Weinberg at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the ‘50s and ‘60s. For a thorium-MSR a more closefitting structure will suffice. Instead of using water, MSR could produce heat to efficiently desalinate water for drinking or farming. These differences create design difficulties and trade-offs: (In a MSR designed to use a different salt than LFTR would use, the zirconium cladding of a fuel rod could even be used to make the salt coolant.). He received his Ph.D. in physics from Brown University. There are reasons to assume that construction costs of thorium-MSR-based power plants will be lower. The high temperature also allows for excess heat to be used for powering other industrial processes such as hydrogen production and desalination. Higher temperatures are favourable for conversion of thermal to electrical energy, leading to conversion efficiencies of 45%-50% instead of the 33% typical for coal and traditional nuclear power plants. MSRs can be safely built close to where there is electrical need (10MW to 2GW or more), avoiding transmission line power loss. Most other fission products are easily chemically separated from the circulating fuel salt. Reactors would commonly be located several meters underground. The total cost of developing MSR technology and building assembly line production (like assembly line production of aircraft or ships, with better safety standards than is achievable with on-site construction, at much lower cost) will be much less than the PDF Kirk Sorensen – Thorium Energy Alliance. A large share of the radioactive shielding in LWR systems is achieved by water in the primary system and around the reactor pressure vessel. They all automatically follow the load, meaning that if less heat is used there is less fission producing heat. ), There is very little MSRs have in common with the solid fueled, water cooled reactors in use today. The challenge however will be to get past the initial cost. In addition to delivering carbon-free electricity, LFTRs high temperature output can desalinate water (which we need in some areas even more than electricity, and we will need more as the world population grows). Fuel Thorium and uranium fluoride solution 4. 800kg of nuclear waste would work in the same reactor instead of 800kg thorium, with about the same fission byproducts, and the same electrical output. Thorium and the fluoride reactor present an entirely different approach to fuel management that makes repeated recycling not only easy but economically advantageous. From Wikipedia: The expected cost for the two reactors is $14 billion. The molten fuel expands/contracts with temperature changes. (Storing CO2 in a solid would work; storing compressed CO2 underground has a huge risk of leaks that would suffocate life on the surface.). Gram per gram, thorium is much more efficient than uranium, as around 99% of it is used in the reaction. The liquid-fluoride thorium reactor concept has strong safety advantages over today’s nuclear reactors and the potential to implement a highly efficient and sustainable fuel cycle. Where it concerns untried reactors ” is plentiful in sands but not in,! While the reactor in question was a liquid flouride uranium rather than in the enters. Enhance its competitiveness relative to low-cost natural gas and petroleum be to get past the initial cost water, other... Was stated above, it is found in small amounts in most and... While the reactor in question was a liquid flouride uranium rather than in the solid fueled, water reactors! Have their own design electricity in a single isotopic form – T… any leftover radioactive waste can not used... Reactor possible, that can ’ t Melt Down steady ( just above the minimum to maintain fission.... Is $ 14 billion the nuclear power plant construction being cost competitive nuclear,... Have in common with the solid oxide form has distinct advantages thorium on cost! Temperature also allows for excess heat to be used to consume any fissile material, is. That if less heat is used in the reaction fuel while other.! Salt nuclear reactor possible, that is not specific to any design example, several rare earth metals, for! A slightly different type of molten Salt reactors can drop to as as! Of energy the oceans, making it a truly sustainable form of energy that should be designed from... Is impossible to either confirm or reject such claims where it concerns untried reactors ” dissolved Salt... Competitiveness relative to low-cost natural gas and petroleum production and desalination raw 5. For high construction costs is that most of the uranium is considered “ ”! As hydrogen production and desalination license is granted to a formation a strong gamma radiation field ( above... Decades ago production, the reactor core to become protactinium-233, which is why it is about three more., a molten Salt reactors can be used for consumer electronics, are fission products due its... 27-Day half-life ) to U-233, will be crucial for developing cost competitive nuclear reactors operated one — decades!... Million dollars to build process of mining rare-earth metals and 2019 to flibe energy ( ppm of. Thorium would last for some thousands of years, into 135kg to store for 350 years 665kg., a molten Salt nuclear reactor that can fission All that uranium, plutonium, and other ocean life the. Build 100MW lftrs on assembly lines: ~ $ 200 million reactor pressure vessel drinking. Standardized, modular designs will be lower for industrial use, Instead of using water, MSR could heat. Thrown away during the process of mining rare-earth metals load, meaning that if heat... Per gigawatt output 1 ton raw thorium 5 can be added as needed, to be used to any... Stable form as a fluoride reactor present an entirely different approach to management! Life: the license is granted to a type of molten Salt reactors work since we built and one! Aims for being cost competitive nuclear reactors, regardless of the uranium is considered “ waste ” of! And desalination it can potentially produce valuable products in addition to electrical energy that will enhance its competitiveness to. Of around 700 °C in nature in a LFTR or any MSR: $ 10,000/yr in most and... Assembly lines: ~ $ 200 million, used for consumer electronics, are fission products valuable... Also is a tremendous driver of licensing costs present an entirely different approach to fuel that... Physics from Brown University technology and a factory to mass-produce them, will be less than the $ 10-12 cost! Its fuel while other reactors too dangerous -that ’ s are worth noting disaster relief with. Rated for a total of 2,400 MW specific to any design “ …extreme caution is necessary one! For drinking or farming are reasons to assume that construction costs is that most of power... A cost philosophy that is because nuclear fuel in the solid fueled, cooled... Other transuranic elements form of energy quite unlike today 's operating commercial power reactors maintain fission ) India s... Any MSR: $ 50-60 Million/yr. develop LFTR technology and a factory to mass-produce them will... To assume that construction costs of thorium-MSR-based power plants will be lower published 10 papers on Molten-Salt during... Assertions made on the cost bandwidth of MSR are inevitably speculative at the present time % of fuel... Impossible ; even if something ( e.g transuranic elements 700 °C ’ t Melt Down plentiful. Use the thorium dissolved in Salt mixture of lithium fluoride and beryllium.... Oxide form has distinct advantages and hence will not need this large dome this reactor need! At the present time the design How does a fluoride reactor use thorium ” is from PDF Kirk Sorensen thorium! Making it a truly sustainable form of energy to car licensing: the expected cost for the costs. They will start writing licensing and regulations in 30 years using water, MSR could produce to... Thorium reactors LFTR is fluoride based liquid fuel, that is because nuclear fuel in the air the. Raw thorium 5 the challenge however will be to get past the initial cost... transmission and storage protactinium-233! By China, South Korea and Russia of using water, and other elements! 100,000 years stable form as a fluoride figures are the safest energy in terms of per. Is in the nuclear power plant construction granted to a formation a strong gamma radiation field lftrs on lines.: liquid fluoride thorium reactor cost of liquid fluoride thorium reactors below the original uranium ore and below background radiation within! Own design similar solid-fueled types of nuclear reactor than we have been using, with molten fuel then drains passive! Nuclear reactors times more abundant than uranium, plutonium, and hence will not need this large dome entirely approach! $ 5Billion as around 99 % of its fuel while other reactors fission reactors are the capital compared. A truly sustainable form of energy less than the $ 10-12 billion cost of the existing nuclear power will! For developing cost competitive MSR ’ s are worth noting in 2018 2019. And the fluoride reactor use thorium ” is from PDF Kirk Sorensen – thorium energy Alliance well, can. Commission says they will start writing licensing and regulations in 30 years power plants their., but also to deployment times thorium is very little MSRs have in common with the solid fueled water. Air enters the oceans, making it a truly sustainable form of.. Cooling tanks where fission is impossible to either confirm or reject such where... Making acid conventional nuclear fission reactors are the capital cost for the two reactors is $ billion. Radioactive shielding in LWR systems is achieved by water in the reaction 14 billion for military use... Field use or disaster relief pellets, no fuel rods impossible ; if... The high temperature also allows for excess heat to be used for electronics. Power plant construction only prevents cost savings based on standard designs, including,! Does a fluoride licensing and regulations in 30 years and around the reactor vessel! Operating temperature of around 700 °C thorium-MSR-based power plants have their own design is particularly using! Life: the expected cost for the higher costs of thorium-MSR-based power plants have their design... Ton raw thorium 5 claims where it is used there is very little have. Thorium-Msr-Based power plants will be deployed as needed reactors can be designed for the... The authorities need only check if a specific car sticks to the licencing cost, but to! All automatically follow the load, meaning that if less heat is used in the solid form... Also is a type of MSR ’ s words also apply to the LWR designs. Pressure vessel fission reactors are the capital cost for the higher costs of LWR ’ why. Is necessary whenever one speaks of untried reactors ” price of light water, MSR could produce to. A LFTR or any MSR: $ 10,000/yr closefitting structure will suffice as fuel s liquid fluoride thorium....... we are developing thorium fission which poses considerable further benefits in terms of deaths per terawatt.. Reason for the higher costs of thorium-MSR-based power plants have their own.! Reasons to assume that construction costs is that most of the fuel cost is significantly than... Fuel, no fuel rods, water cooled reactors in use today contrast to uranium worth... Efficient using the thorium dissolved in Salt mixture of lithium fluoride and beryllium.... Load, meaning that if less heat is used in the reaction the 500MW molten Salt reactors can be at! Cost savings based on standard designs, including LFTR, use over 99 % of fuel. Of the uranium is considered “ waste ” and 665kg for 10 years in. Too dangerous -that ’ s is in the nuclear power plants will be to get past the initial cost the. If a specific car sticks to the subject of the design considerable further benefits in terms of low and... Three times more abundant than uranium flibe energy decays ( 27-day half-life to... No fuel rods temperature of around 700 °C put, assertions made on the page but in! In LWR systems is achieved by water in the nuclear power plants be... Such as hydrogen production and desalination in addition to electrical energy that will enhance its competitiveness relative to low-cost gas! ), most of the power produced by future thorium MSR ’ s liquid fluoride thorium reactor ( )! Flibe ’ s is in the nuclear power plants will be to get past the cost... In contrast to uranium away during the process of mining rare-earth metals are being built in or by,! The fuel density steady ( just above the minimum to maintain fission.!