The cost is fully competitive with mining about 20 to 30 dollars per pound. Thorcon is a graphitemoderated thermal spectrum molten salt. Uranium fuel cost component is around 610th of a cent per kilowatthour. The author provides a powerful case for using thorium as a superfuel. Robert hargraves and have worked with him on various energy projects, such as coteaching t he energy safari course last fall, and founding the coalition for energy solutions. It is cheaper than coal, much cheaper when coals hidden external costs are calculated. Nuclear energy promised to generate lowcost electricity safely, with fewer environmental and. I just dont know if thorium msrs are the way to go. If we want to have better energy resources, then we need to focus on renewable energy resources. There would also need to be an acceptance that nuclear power plants and chemical plants, or. Robert hargraves, institute for lifelong education at da. Power cheaper than coal thorium and uranium make it. Enough thorium is thrown away mining for rees to power the world. The output was shipped to a processing plant for our nuclear fleet.
It is also unlimited and will be virtually forever, day and night, rain or shine. Energy cheaper than coal, recently traveled to shanghai to present a 30 minute talk summarizing the main points of. Requires no subsidies because its cheaper than coal. The key technology is the molten salt reactor, enabling a fluid fuel form, reducing costs and enabling energy cheaper than from coal. The reason uranium won out over thorium at the dawn of the atomic age was its ability to undergo fission and provide material for atomic weapons. Pdf electricity generation and the case for thorium.
This book presents a lucid explanation of the workings of thorium based reactors. The pro thorium lobby claim a single tonne of thorium burned in a molten salt reactor msr typically a liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr which has liquid rather than solid fuel, can. The potential for the use of thorium was studied extensively during the 1950s and 60s, and now worldwide interest is being revived due to limitations and issues concerning. Thorium based nuclear energy and liquid fluoride thorium reactors lftr are not a good idea.
Energy, which is cheaper than that generated from coal, is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition because theres much more in play here than just the cost of energy. According to proponents, a thorium fuel cycle offers several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycleincluding much greater abundance of thorium on earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced nuclear waste production. His thesis is that a nonco2 emitting energy source must also be cheaper than coal, or will ultimately. Dont believe the spin on thorium being a greener nuclear. Dartmouths jones seminars on science, technology, and society. Innovative thorium energy uses economic persuasion to end the pollution, to provide pdf energy and prosperity to developing nations, and to create energy security for all people for all time.
Our world is beset by global warming, pollution, resource conflicts, and energy poverty. Floating nuke power plants get backing from quant investor. Thorium, the green energy source for the future explores the history of the 90th element on the periodic table. Energy cheaper than coal will dissuade all nations from burning coal. The thorium energy alliances kutsch adds that just pulling uranium and thorium from coal currently mined in the u. The potential of thorium for safer, cleaner and cheaper energy. Thorium energy can help us check co2 and global warming, cut deadly air pollution, provide. Thorium was safer, cleaner and more abundant than uranium, but because nuclear weapons could not be built from it, it was relegated to a footnote in atomic energy journals for the past half century. It was amazing to read about how many times this resource has been overlooked by. That seems to be more or less in line with the oak ridge figures which show that the thorium is far more energy productive than the coal. Thorium could refuel the future of nuclear energy the. Using any type of nuclear energy is a bad idea because of the toxic waste that it makes.
The best source of that is the more than 72,000 tonnes of spent fuel. The thorium molten salt power plant can produce clean energy cheaper than coal, which could be reliable energy system toward a lowcarbon economy, pal said. Thorium based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium233 produced from the fertile element thorium. Thorcon can end energy poverty and global warming with cheap, nonstop power. Auditorium, campus center, university of massachusetts amherst. The liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr has the potential to undersell energy produced from coal. I hope many politicians working with energy policy will read this book. Innovative thorium energy uses economic persuasion to end the pollution, to provide energy and prosperity to developing nations, and to create energy security for all people for all time.
As our van of thorium advocates discuss various energy options, we hear from prominent environmentalists and climatologists who support or who have recently come to support expansion of nuclear. Thorium energy alliance tea is a nongovernmental, nonprofit 501c3, educational organization based in the united states, which seeks to promote energy security of the world through the use of thorium as a fuel source. Power from lftrs is expected to cost of the order of 3 cents per kwh all up. Is thorium the safer, cleaner, more powerful alternative. Hydrogen, theres a thousand ways to make hydrogen and the iodinesulfur cycle does have an advantage of using a lot of heat vs. Electricity produced by the liquid fluoride thorium reactor, lftr lifter, is clean and safe. His thesis is that a nonco2 emitting energy source must also be cheaper than coal, or will ultimately fail to displace fossil fuels as a means of energy production. Thorium energy technology can free the world from nuclear. Evidently the thorium in a ton of coal produces times the energy generated from burning the coal. Our demand for limited natural resources is rapidly increasing and much of humanity is concerned about the consequences. Energy cheaper than coal 2012 page 10 of 430 robert hargraves kwh. Few realize that green energy depends upon rare earth elements. All thorium is consumed no spent fuel 90% of bwrpwr uranium is unused.
Energy cheaper than coal by robert hargraves the halflife of th232, which comprises most of thorium ore, is 14 billion years, so it is not hazardous due to its extremely slow decay. The intriguing part to me is converting the coal, of which there apparently is a 1,500 year supply, into. Abundant thorium as an alternative nuclear fuel mit. Meet thorium, a naturally occurring, slightly radioactive metal, capable of producing immense amount of energy, in a safe, environmentally friendly and very economic manner.
This issue derives from a lack of research into nuclear energy and thorium in particular. This book presents a lucid explanation of the workings of thoriumbased reactors. In comparison, th233 has 20 minute halflife, which makes it intensely radioactive, very shortlived and a fantastic power source. Energy cheaper than coal is a fantastic fact based book on the problems surrounding our use of energy, and the alternatives that we can pursue. Energy cheaper than coal 2012 page 12 of 430 robert hargraves foreword thorium is the name of a heavy metal element that can release abundant energy, but thorium is only part of the story.
This century, we face significant environmental challenges. Nuclear energy economics are driven by the capital cost of the plant, and building a power plant with a thorium reactor is no cheaper than. No enrichment energy wasted 232 th is just a metal common in rareearth ores. Safer, cleaner, sustainable and many times more effective than any other energy resource on earth. Thorium energy can help check co2 and global warming, cut deadly air pollution, provide inexhaustible energy, and increase human prosperity. According to the nuclear energy institute, nuclear power became cheaper than coal in 1999 and currently is about 30% cheaper, around 3 cents and a fraction per kwhr.
See for a power plant that uses both thorium and uranium. Thorium energy cheaper than coal robert hargraves coauthor ralph moir robert hargraves has a phd physics and teaches energy policy at dartmouth an ivy league school, and coauthor ralph moir lawrence livermore national lab a phd in nuclear engineering and author of numerous papers on molten salt reactors. This january epa renews its radon scare campaign to frighten the public about harmless levels of natural radiation. Power cheaper than coal thorium and uranium make it possible december 12, 2012 by rod adams bob hargraves, the author of thorium. Although thorium is more abundant than uranium, the cost of uranium is a small fraction of the overall cost of nuclear energy.