So recently I've been looking into how nuclear physics works, and the way nuclear reactors work in a more depth way. A lot of people typically mention thorium as being more abundant and more energy-rich when creating reactions during its decay, but I could never find what exactly it decays into. I know it turns from Th-232 into Ra-228 and He-4 but I don't know if it admits any other gamma rays or how exactly to calculate out the energy throughput I believe it's the weights of the Th-232 - (Ra-228 + He-4) and the difference is used in E=Mc^2 but I could be wrong about that as well, either way, I would like some help or explanation of how it actually happens. Furthermore, if this is actually the wrong sub to post in please direct me in the right direction, thanks in advance!
Not that much into Thorium reactors per e, but still a dammed interesting documentary (especially the bit about the wastes). Enjoy!
The question for the assignment asks you to make up a 10-step decay chain for the decay of Thorium-232 to Lead-208. It then asks you to find, "How much energy is released if 13.27g of Thorium-232 decays to Lead-208?"
I did this by subtracting the mass of the 6 alpha particles and 4 electrons (from the 6 alpha and 4 beta decays to get to Lead-208) along with the mass of Lead-208 from the mass of Thorium-232. All of these masses were given in the problem.
I then plugged this mass defect into the equation E=mc^2 to find the energy, in kJ/mole that is released in the decay process. I then used dimensional analysis to change the 13.27g of Thorium-232 into kJ.
My final answer was 2.583623414 x 10^8 kJ. Ignoring significant figures for now.
Can someone just check this over for me please? Thank you!
TLDR:
- India has one of the world's largest reserves of Thorium along the sand beaches of east coast & minimal reserves of uranium.
- Therefore, India has been attempting to build Thorium fuelled reactors
- While Nehru had banned export of the mineral rich sands because of presence of rare earths, the bans were subsequently lifted in 2006, making it easier for sand mining companies to export the rare earths from sand except Thorium. Ban was lifted to coincide with Indo-US nuclear deal
- While technically there is ban on Thorium export by private companies, there is no accountability and as per Lok Sabha records between 2002 & 2012, 60 lakh crores worth Thorium has disappeared from the beaches.
- Indo-US nuclear deal meanwhile made us dependent on imported uranium to benefit US nuclear based corporates, while throttling Thorium fuelled development and at the same time, effectively bound us to non-proliferation treaty with the agreement that if we test any more nuclear weapons, we will lose all access to uranium. This at a time we are increasingly moving towards replacing coal based power with imported uranium based power.
- China built its first Thorium fuelled reactor in Sep 21.
A look into US universities focusing on India's vast resources of Thorium & attempt to use it for nuclear reactors & not depend on uranium:
>Thorium does have several advantages over Uranium as a nuclear power source. Thorium is three times more abundant in the Earth's crust than Uranium, and many Thorium deposits contain other mineral resources of value (rare earths elements in particular). Significant Thorium deposits exist in the United States, Brazil, India, and Australia; these countries all have estimates of Thorium resources of greater than 600 kt. [1] Additionally, all the Thorium that is mined can be used in a reactor, in comparison to less than 1% of natural Uranium that may be used. [2] Finally, Th-232 possesses a 14 billion year half-life, rendering it safer than Uranium and Plutonium. [2]
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2018/ph241/wolak1/
>The tropical beaches of India probably bring to mind sun-dappled palms, fiery fish curries and dreadlocked backpackers, but they also hold a surprising secret. Their sands are rich in thorium – often hailed as a cleaner, safer alternative to conventional nuclear fuels.
>
>**India has the world’s largest reserves of Thorium
I'm trying to make a simple spreadsheet to look at the possibilities of using uranium-thorium fuel in a pebble-bed reactor, with an eye toward creating a net breeder.
I've been unable to find anything on the fissile loading of pebble-bed fuel, the enrichment, or much else. I found two wildly divergent numbers for the neutron-capture cross section of Pa-233, and came up empty when I looked for the cross-sections of silicon isotopes. The basics are more or less easy; a cylindrical pebble bed reactor core 3.5 m diameter and 10 m high generating 300 MW(t) would have an average power density of about 3.12 kW per liter and go through a bit under 320 grams of fissile per day, but from there I'm stumped.
What I'm trying to do is calculate whether neutron capture in Pa-233 is a huge problem, a small problem or no problem at that power density, and whether it could be dealt with by means such as rapid cycling of breeding material through the reactor followed by a cooling period for the Pa-233 to decay to U-233.
Working numbers:
C-12 capture cross-section is 0.0035 barns
Th-232 fission XC is 0, capture XC is 7.41 barns
Pa-233 fission cross-section is 0, capture XC is 140 barns
U-233 fission XC is 531 barns, capture XC is 45 barns
If the answer is "it's too complicated to explain here", so be it.
Do your worst!
Sure there is some U-232 with it so it's not a clean U-233 but do you think that bad guys would care to stockpile their weapons?
I'm surprised it hasn't decade.
I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.
Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
It really does, I swear!
Buenosdillas
They’re on standbi
Lets assume that thorium reactors prove to be a practical way to generate electricity. With that assumption, at what point are they likely to be commercially viable for wide scale use? We'll assume nuclear fusion is not practical.
I have to assume this century, and probably before 2060, but thats just an educated guess.
Pilot on me!!
Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.
This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.
If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.
Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.
When I got home, they were still there.
I won't be doing that today!
[Removed]
TLDR:
- India has one of the world's largest reserves of Thorium along the sand beaches of east coast & minimal reserves of uranium.
- Therefore, India has been attempting to build Thorium fuelled reactors
- While Nehru had banned export of the mineral rich sands because of presence of rare earths, the bans were subsequently lifted in 2006, making it easier for sand mining companies to export the rare earths from sand except Thorium. Ban was lifted to coincide with Indo-US nuclear deal
- While technically there is ban on Thorium export by private companies, there is no accountability and as per Lok Sabha records between 2002 & 2012, 60 lakh crores worth Thorium has disappeared from the beaches.
- Indo-US nuclear deal meanwhile made us dependent on imported uranium to benefit US nuclear based corporates, while throttling Thorium fuelled development and at the same time, effectively bound us to non-proliferation treaty with the agreement that if we test any more nuclear weapons, we will lose all access to uranium. This at a time we are increasingly moving towards replacing coal based power with imported uranium based power.
- China built its first Thorium fuelled reactor in Sep 21.
A look into US universities focusing on India's vast resources of Thorium & attempt to use it for nuclear reactors & not depend on uranium:
>Thorium does have several advantages over Uranium as a nuclear power source. Thorium is three times more abundant in the Earth's crust than Uranium, and many Thorium deposits contain other mineral resources of value (rare earths elements in particular). Significant Thorium deposits exist in the United States, Brazil, India, and Australia; these countries all have estimates of Thorium resources of greater than 600 kt. [1] Additionally, all the Thorium that is mined can be used in a reactor, in comparison to less than 1% of natural Uranium that may be used. [2] Finally, Th-232 possesses a 14 billion year half-life, rendering it safer than Uranium and Plutonium. [2]
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2018/ph241/wolak1/
>The tropical beaches of India probably bring to mind sun-dappled palms, fiery fish curries and dreadlocked backpackers, but they also hold a surprising secret. Their sands are rich in thorium – often hailed as a cleaner, safer alternative to conventional nuclear fuels.
>
>**India has the world’s largest reserves of Thorium
TLDR:
- India has one of the world's largest reserves of Thorium along the sand beaches of east coast & minimal reserves of uranium.
- Therefore, India has been attempting to build Thorium fuelled reactors
- While Nehru had banned export of the mineral rich sands because of presence of rare earths, the bans were subsequently lifted in 2006, making it easier for sand mining companies to export the rare earths from sand except Thorium. Ban was lifted to coincide with Indo-US nuclear deal
- While technically there is ban on Thorium export by private companies, there is no accountability and as per Lok Sabha records between 2002 & 2012, 60 lakh crores worth Thorium has disappeared from the beaches.
- Indo-US nuclear deal meanwhile made us dependent on imported uranium to benefit US nuclear based corporates, while throttling Thorium fuelled development and at the same time, effectively bound us to non-proliferation treaty with the agreement that if we test any more nuclear weapons, we will lose all access to uranium. This at a time we are increasingly moving towards replacing coal based power with imported uranium based power.
- China built its first Thorium fuelled reactor in Sep 21.
A look into US universities focusing on India's vast resources of Thorium & attempt to use it for nuclear reactors & not depend on uranium:
>Thorium does have several advantages over Uranium as a nuclear power source. Thorium is three times more abundant in the Earth's crust than Uranium, and many Thorium deposits contain other mineral resources of value (rare earths elements in particular). Significant Thorium deposits exist in the United States, Brazil, India, and Australia; these countries all have estimates of Thorium resources of greater than 600 kt. [1] Additionally, all the Thorium that is mined can be used in a reactor, in comparison to less than 1% of natural Uranium that may be used. [2] Finally, Th-232 possesses a 14 billion year half-life, rendering it safer than Uranium and Plutonium. [2]
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2018/ph241/wolak1/
>The tropical beaches of India probably bring to mind sun-dappled palms, fiery fish curries and dreadlocked backpackers, but they also hold a surprising secret. Their sands are rich in thorium – often hailed as a cleaner, safer alternative to conventional nuclear fuels.
>
>**India has the world’s largest reserves of Thorium
What did 0 say to 8 ?
" Nice Belt "
So What did 3 say to 8 ?
" Hey, you two stop making out "
