Accelerator-Driven Thorium-Cycle Fission: Green Nuclear Power for the new Millenium

by Dr Peter McIntyre (Texas A&M University)

Monday 9 Aug 2010, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Zurich

WBGB/019 (PSI)

Abstract: In thorium-cycle fission, fast neutrons are used to transmute thorium into fissionable 232U and then stimulate fission. In accelerator-driven thorium-cycle fission (ADTC) the fast neutrons are produced by injecting a symmetric pattern of seven energetic proton beams into Pb pallation zones 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 a flux-coupled 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 shuffling fuel pins, and there are sufficient thorium reserves to run man’s energy needs for the next 2000 years.

Contact: Mike Seidel (3378)

Abstract Abstraxt_McIntyre_100809.pdf

Slides mcintyre_9_8_10.pdf