ACCELERATOR-DRIVEN THORIUM-CYCLE FISSION: GREEN NUCLEAR POWER FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • In thorium-cycle fission, fast neutrons are used to transmute thorium to fissionable 233U and then stimulate fission. In accelerator-driven thorium-cycle fission (ADTC) the fast neutrons are produced by injecting a symmetric pattern of 7 energetic proton beams into a Pb spallation zone in the core. The fast neutrons are adiabatically moderated by the Pb so that they capture efficiently on 232Th, and fission heat is transferred via a convective Pb column above the core. The 7 proton beams are generated by afluxoupled stack of isochronous cyclotrons. ADTC offers a green solution to the Earth's energy needs: The core operates as a sub-critical pile and cannot melt down; it eats its own long-lived fission products; a GW ADTC core can operate with uniform power density for a 7-year fuel cycle without shuffcing fuel pins, and there are sufficient thorium reserves to run man's energy needs for the next 2000 years.

name of conference

  • Physics Beyond the Standard Models of Particles, Cosmology and Astrophysics

published proceedings

  • Physics Beyond the Standard Models of Particles, Cosmology and Astrophysics

author list (cited authors)

  • McINTYRE, P., & SATTAROV, A.

citation count

  • 0

complete list of authors

  • McINTYRE, PETER||SATTAROV, AKHDIYOR

publication date

  • March 2011