ThorEA - Towards an Alternative Nuclear Future.pdf

Executive Summary
Recent developments in advanced accelerator technology have provided the UK with a unique opportunity to create, build
and sustain a multibillion pound industry based upon alternative, safe, inexhaustible, low waste and proliferation-resistant
nuclear power generation. This innovative nuclear industry and its associated technology will:
allow the UK to compete aggressively in existing nuclear markets;
open up entirely new international nuclear markets that at present are closed to all current and planned uranium-
and plutonium-based nuclear technologies;
directly impact other high-technology industries, including medicine;
enable the UK, and other nations, to meet carbon reduction targets without increasing nuclear waste streams.
This vision of a reinvigorated and environmentally acceptable UK nuclear industry can be delivered by adopting and refining
the concept of the Accelerator Driven Subcritical Reactor (ADSR), fuelled entirely by thorium, an abundant and robust fuel
which produces low levels of waste and virtually no plutonium, and driven by advanced, UK-designed and manufactured
particle accelerators.
Immediate investment will enable the UK to benefit from the momentum of its existing accelerator programme to secure a
clear world lead in the new nuclear technology. It is entirely realistic to expect that:
The key ADSR technologies will be developed and functioning demonstrators delivered within five years.
A privately funded 600MW prototype power station capable of providing electricity to the grid will be constructed
and commissioned by 2025.
These objectives can be best achieved through a public private
partnership. An initial public investment of £300m over five years
will support an intensive research and development programme and,
in parallel, develop the industrial capability to deliver practical
systems on a commercial basis in advance of the deployment of
competitor GEN IV nuclear technology.
It is envisaged that a private company will be created to manage the
research and development programme, establish industrial collaborations,
secure procurement and capture emerging intellectual property. The
research and development programme will lever £1.5-2bn from industry
over a further ten years for the design and construction of the world’s first
thorium-fuelled ADSR power station.
The return on this investment is
likely to be a viable and robust
UK thorium-fuelled ADSR nuclear
industry serving a global need for
low carbon, sustainable but safer
nuclear electricity, with a projected
revenue of at least £10-20 billion
per annum beyond 2025.
A report prepared by: the thorium energy amplifier association 07