Originally posted by zeitghost
Are you mad?
You can't make pits out of thorium.
You can't make pits out of thorium.
This is an entirely different waste profile.
Noticeably missing are the plutonium and the minor actinides.
Noticeably evident is the U233.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the USA did successfully manufacture an experimental nuclear bomb, and in the process, they amply demonstrated that U233 is far more difficult to construct into nuclear bombs than Pu239 or minor actinides.
The reason lies chiefly in the uranium-232 (U232) contamination that occurs naturally in all U233.
Like most unstable radioactive isotopes, U232 decays into a string of various atoms over time.
U232 and some of its daughter decay products emit very strong gamma radiation.
Unlike Pu239, U232 emits more gamma over time, and becomes more dangerous.
This makes any handling of U232, and by extension any waste material from the thorium fuel cycle, virtually impossible to handle.
To put it into perspective for the reader, a critical mass of plutonium waste product can be handled with a standard glove box, whereas a critical mass of U233 (approximately 5 kilograms) would contain enough U232 content (approximately 1%), that after 10 years, lead shielding of 17 meters in thickness would be required for handling.
Without this lead shielding, any human being within approximately 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) of U232 would suffer lethal exposure within 5 minutes.
Furthermore, because a critical mass of U233 would be so easily detectable, the bomb making facilities would have to be constructed several miles below the surface of the earth.
U232’s gamma emissions also have a destructive effect on electronics.
So, although it is technically possible to construct a bomb from U233 waste material generated by the thorium fuel cycle, it is exponentially more difficult, dangerous and expensive than using Pu239.
Noticeably missing are the plutonium and the minor actinides.
Noticeably evident is the U233.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the USA did successfully manufacture an experimental nuclear bomb, and in the process, they amply demonstrated that U233 is far more difficult to construct into nuclear bombs than Pu239 or minor actinides.
The reason lies chiefly in the uranium-232 (U232) contamination that occurs naturally in all U233.
Like most unstable radioactive isotopes, U232 decays into a string of various atoms over time.
U232 and some of its daughter decay products emit very strong gamma radiation.
Unlike Pu239, U232 emits more gamma over time, and becomes more dangerous.
This makes any handling of U232, and by extension any waste material from the thorium fuel cycle, virtually impossible to handle.
To put it into perspective for the reader, a critical mass of plutonium waste product can be handled with a standard glove box, whereas a critical mass of U233 (approximately 5 kilograms) would contain enough U232 content (approximately 1%), that after 10 years, lead shielding of 17 meters in thickness would be required for handling.
Without this lead shielding, any human being within approximately 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) of U232 would suffer lethal exposure within 5 minutes.
Furthermore, because a critical mass of U233 would be so easily detectable, the bomb making facilities would have to be constructed several miles below the surface of the earth.
U232’s gamma emissions also have a destructive effect on electronics.
So, although it is technically possible to construct a bomb from U233 waste material generated by the thorium fuel cycle, it is exponentially more difficult, dangerous and expensive than using Pu239.
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