THORIUM AS AN ENERGY SOURCE - Opportunities for Norway ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Thorium as an Energy Source - Opportunities for Norway Launched in 2000 by the US, the Generation IV initiative is aiming at fostering the collaborative efforts of the world's leading nuclear technology nations to develop next generation nuclear energy systems to meet the world's future energy needs. The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) defined eight goals for these systems in four key areas: economics; safety and reliability; sustainability; and proliferation resistance and physical protection. GIF also selected the six most promising systems that offer advantages in these four key areas and could be deployed commercially by 2030 [5]. Nowadays, GIF has the following 13 members: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Euratom, France, Japan, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Republic of South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Currently, eight Members are Parties to the Intergovernmental Framework Agreement for International Collaboration on Research and Development of Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems (Canada, China, France, Japan, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United States and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)) while the five others have not yet acceded to or ratified this Agreement The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), established in March 1957, gives the ability to pursue Framework Programs for nuclear research and training activities. The main focus of Euratom is fusion energy covered by the ITER program (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) which is an international collaboration to build and operate an experimental fusion facility. The objective of ITER is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy. With the present know-how, it is hard to see the large scale commercialization of fusion based reactors before the middle of this century and not even very soon after that. The role of thorium (Th) as fuel in nuclear reactors has been discussed since the early 1960s. The thorium isotope, Th-232, is not fissile which means that it cannot undergo fission if bombarded with neutrons. On the other hand, Th-232 is fertile which means that new fissile material uranium-233 (U-233) can be produced by irradiating thorium in a nuclear facility. 2.6 Uranium Resources Total identified resources of uranium are divided into two groups: Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) and Inferred Resources (IR). The Reasonably Assured Resources comprise the uranium that occurs in known mineral deposits of such size, grade and configuration that it could be recovered within given production cost ranges, with currently proven mining and processing technology. I.e. the Reasonably Assured Resources are very well known resources while inferred resources are less well known. The categories are internally divided into various cost classes according to suggested extraction costs. The classes “below 40 US$/kgU”, “below 80 US$/kgU” and “below 130 US$/kg U” are the most widely used. Very often resources of type “RAR < 80 US$/kgU” are regarded as being equivalent to "proven resources”. The global identified resources of uranium with mining costs up to 80 US$/kg amount to about 2.6 million tonnes. The uranium resources, when used in Light Water Reactors (LWRs), correspond to an energy equivalent of 28 billion tonnes hard coal. Deposits which contain large uranium resources and which can be mined in a cost-effective way are distributed to many countries, as shown in Figure 2.10 (US does not report resources in the IR category). These countries possess about 96 % of the global uranium resources. 16
Tonnes 1 200 000 1 000 000 800 000 600 000 400 000 200 000 0 Australia Kazakhstan World Uranium Resources Canada United States South Africa Namibia Brazil Niger Russian Fed. Uzbekistan Ukraine RAR
Page 1 and 2: 2008 THORIUM AS AN ENERGY SOURCE -
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents 14.2 APPENDIX B2:
Page 7 and 8: The Thorium Report Committee was gi
Page 9 and 10: Foreword energy area. The price vol
Page 11 and 12: 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summ
Page 13 and 14: Radiation Protection of Man and the
Page 15 and 16: Executive Summary nuclear engineeri
Page 17 and 18: Introduction In the context of such
Page 19 and 20: 2.3 The EU Situation Introduction T
Page 21 and 22: Oil, Gas, NGL, Condensate (Million
Page 23 and 24: TWh 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90
Page 25: Figure 2.8: Number of Operating Rea
Page 29 and 30: US $ / kg UF 6 160 140 120 100 80 6
Page 31 and 32: 2.8 Worldwide Activities on Thorium
Page 33 and 34: 1. Alkaline complexes and their peg
Page 35 and 36: Thorium Resources in Norway The tho
Page 37 and 38: Thorium Resources in Norway The pot
Page 39 and 40: Thorium Resources in Norway A serie
Page 41 and 42: 4.1.1 Mining and Extraction The Fro
Page 43 and 44: The Front End of the Thorium Fuel C
Page 45 and 46: The Front End of the Thorium Fuel C
Page 47 and 48: 4.3.2 HTGR Fuel Performance The Fro
Page 49 and 50: 5.1 Properties of the Fertile Mater
Page 51 and 52: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium Table
Page 53 and 54: 5.3.1 Light Water Reactor (LWR) Nuc
Page 55 and 56: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium 2. Cyc
Page 57 and 58: 5.3.2.4 Gas Turbine-Modular Helium
Page 59 and 60: Figure 5.7: General Layout of the A
Page 61 and 62: 5.4.2 Generation IV Reactors Nuclea
Page 63 and 64: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium econom
Page 65 and 66: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium • Ad
Page 67 and 68: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium temper
Page 69 and 70: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium Figure
Page 71 and 72: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium the de
Page 73 and 74: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium remova
Page 75 and 76: Nuclear Reactors for Thorium result
Page 77 and 78:
The most important drawbacks of the
Page 79 and 80:
Nuclear Reactors for Thorium mater
Page 81 and 82:
6. THE BACK END OF THE THORIUM FUEL
Page 83 and 84:
The Back End of the Thorium Fuel Cy
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Radiation Protection of Man and the
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
8. REGULATION The use of thorium as
Page 99 and 100:
• Safety, security and emergency
Page 101 and 102:
Regulation • The Agreement betwee
Page 103 and 104:
Non-proliferation Nations with secu
Page 105 and 106:
Economical Aspects conventional rea
Page 107 and 108:
11. Radioecology 12. Decommissionin
Page 109 and 110:
Research, Development, Education an
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Conclusions and Recommendations tho
Page 119 and 120:
13. APPENDIX A: INTRODUCTION TO NUC
Page 121 and 122:
14. APPENDIX B: NUCLEAR REACTOR TEC
Page 123 and 124:
Figure 14.3: Boiling Water Reactor
Page 125 and 126:
Appendix B: Nuclear Reactor Technol
Page 127 and 128:
Table 15.1: The Current Course Pack
Page 129 and 130:
• N12 Reactor Thermal Hydraulics,
Page 131 and 132:
16. APPENDIX D: RADIATION PROTECTIO
Page 133 and 134:
Regulations on Radiation Protection
Page 135 and 136:
”Section 4. (Licence for nuclear
Page 137 and 138:
2. Dues shall be paid for the super
Page 139 and 140:
use the best available technology s
Page 141 and 142:
Summary: Legislation that is or may
Page 143 and 144:
216 Po α 0.145 s 6.906 (805) 212 P
Page 145 and 146:
18. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Acro
Page 147 and 148:
Po polonium Po-208 polonium-208 Po-
Page 149 and 150:
19. REFERENCES References Chapter 2
Page 151 and 152:
References [35] J.D. SEASE et al.,
Page 153 and 154:
References [68] E. Merle-Lucotte, D
Page 155 and 156:
References [97] "On-going activites
Page 157 and 158:
References [122] L. CINOTTI, “Inh
Page 159 and 160:
References [149] M. Crick, UNSCEAR,
show all

THORIUM AS AN ENERGY SOURCE - Opportunities for Norway ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?