ThorEA - Towards an Alternative Nuclear Future.pdf

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Chapter 5: The economics of thorium-fuelled ADSR technology continued During 2004-2008, inclusive, the average spot price of uranium was $113/kgU (2006 prices). This is over double its price from the preceding 20 years, $46 /kgU (2006 prices). The report: “Uranium 2007: Resources, Production and Demand” (ref: OECD, International Atomic Energy Agency. Published by: OECD Publishing) finds that, at 2006 consumption rates, the supply of uranium that can be extracted for a price of
5.2 Inward investment The delivery of a thorium based ADSR system in advance of conventional Generation IV reactors would place the UK at the forefront of nuclear energy generation. Such international leadership will inevitably result in inward investment opportunities for the UK. Indeed, the proposed accelerator-based technology outlined in this report has already generated considerable interest from the Norwegian owned engineering company Aker Solutions which has a UK base in the North East of England. Aker Solutions level of commitment to develop a thorium fuelled ADSR is significant and the company has indicated that if suitable partners can be found (public or private), it would aim to design, build and commission a full-scale reactor within the UK by 2030. Aker Solutions is in the process of seeking development partners within the UK including accelerator science and technology developers, as well as industrial partners from the nuclear engineering sector. If such a reactor was to be built, Aker Solutions has indicated that the UK would be a preferred location. This level of engagement already demonstrates the potential inward investment opportunity which the project would attract, from both the nuclear reactor perspective and the leading-edge platform technologies which would have to be developed to achieve the ambitious aims detailed in this report. 5.3 Regional development The regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, at the request of the then Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury, commissioned a report by Arthur D.Little on the economic impact of large scale facility, i.e. the European Spallation Source, on the Yorkshire region, (Little, 2005). The socioeconomic analysis showed that not only did the majority of the investment stay within the region during construction, a large percentage also remained during operation. The ongoing benefit and legacy was found to be many multiples of the investment with a ‘cluster’ of companies following such investment. The report demonstrates this through reference to other large scale projects around the world (SNS – USA, ANSLS – Australia, CLS – Canada). Given that the culmination of the AESIR accelerator development programme would be a “large scale facility” similar in scope and application to those at TRIUMF (Vancouver, Canada) and PSI (Villigen Switzerland) the socioeconomic advantage to the host region could be significant, although Little cautioned that such benefits would be much reduced if the facility was located in an economically heated region (e.g. the Thames Valley). A report prepared by: the thorium energy amplifier association 43
Page 1 and 2: TOWARDS AN ALTERNATIVE NUCLEAR FUTU
Page 3 and 4: A report prepared by: the thorium e
Page 5 and 6: Appendices: Appendix I: ADSR Accele
Page 7 and 8: Executive Summary Recent developmen
Page 9 and 10: This report is structured as follow
Page 11 and 12: Thorium presents numerous advantage
Page 13 and 14: Operating reactors 500 40 450 400 3
Page 15 and 16: 1.5 The potential global market for
Page 19 and 20: 2.3 Minimizing the economic cost of
Page 21 and 22: Chapter 3: An R&D Programme to secu
Page 25 and 26: Phase III: THOR Successful completi
Page 27 and 28: 3.6 Private Investment and construc
Page 31 and 32: Case Study 2: Letter of support fro
Page 33 and 34: 4.3 The patent landscape Categoriza
Page 35 and 36: 4.6 Future opportunities facilitate
Page 37 and 38: 4.7.1 Medical applications Both ADS
Page 39 and 40: 4.7.5 From megatons to megawatts: W
Page 41: For an operational lifetime of 40 y
Page 45 and 46: Chapter 6: The way forward In this
Page 49 and 50: A1.3 Accelerator reliability Accele
Page 51 and 52: Estimated thorium resources by coun
Page 53 and 54: FBTR, India: India’s first fast p
Page 55 and 56: Japan: Mitsui Engineering & Ship Bu
Page 57 and 58: EUROTRANS has proposed a route to a
Page 59 and 60: thorium oxide mixed fuels is access
Page 61 and 62: Appendix VIII: An historical UK per
Page 63 and 64: Bibliography Bryan, A. C. (2009). J
Page 65 and 66: LBE - Lead-Bismuth Eutectic LEU - L
Page 67 and 68: Q4. Early investment in accelerator
Page 69 and 70: Q11. ThorEA focus upon FFAG technol
Page 71: William J. Nuttall is a University

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