LFTR Chemistry "The Chemical Kidney" - TR2016c 4h04m25s19f
Channel: Thorium Remix
Date: 2017-03-24

http://ThoriumRemix.com/ Essential to thermal-spectrum Thorium breeding is a the recycling of nuclear fuel and continual removal of fission products.

This is because thermal-spectrum thorium breeding does not produce an abundance of neutrons, and so fission will stop if too many neutrons are absorbed by fission products, or are absorbed by Protactinium-233.

On one hand, this is a unique challenge. The combination of fission and online chemistry requires that many chemical processes proposed by Alvin Weinberg's team at ORNL be confirmed as practical.

On the other hand, online reprocessing of nuclear fuel is key to full consumption of ANY nuclear fuel. Unless fission products are removed, they will ALWAYS be absorbing neutrons which would otherwise fission nuclear fuel.

Any Molten Salt Reactor featuring online chemical processing is a reactor which addresses fuel reprocessing in the most efficient manner possible. Thorium's chemical properties offer up unique tricks making this process simpler than with a Uranium/Plutonium fuel cycle.

That thermal-spectrum Thorium breeding demands a chemical kidney also narrows the definition of what a practical thermal-spectrum Thorium reactor can be.

And it is this aspect of the thorium fuel cycle which is unmentioned by the thorium fuel cycle review put forward by NNL, and dismissed in favor of fast-spectrum by the OECD NEO thorium fuel cycle report.

News media then further dumbed-down these two reports, to declare thorium as offering no advantage over the Plutonium/Uranium fuel cycle. In fact the reports never considered an appropriate reactor design with which such an advantage could be shown.