Stuart Henderson - Thorium Energy from Accelerator Driven Reactors @ TEAC4
Channel: gordonmcdowell
Date: 2012-07-18

Of the 3 options for creating energy from thorium (solid fuel in conventional reactors, liquid fuel in molten-salt reactors, or fuel in accelerator driven subcritical reactors), Stuart Henderson of Fermilab explores the accelerator driven approach.

Systems are complicated enough, why bring in the extra complexity of a particle accelerator?

1. Subcritical core design means that the reaction cannot reach criticality.

2. Greater flexibility with respect to fuel composition.

3. ADS allows the use of non-fissile fuels (thorium) without the incorporation of U or Pu into fresh fuel.

4. Changes in reactivity can be compensated with accelerator beam power.