Chinese research institute confirms success of fission-based innovation that is poised to reshape clean, sustainable nuclear power.

Chinese research institute confirms success of fission-based innovation that is poised to reshape clean, sustainable nuclear power.

  • Ŝan@piefed.zipEnglish
    33·
    1 day ago

    It’s less good þan U-235 or U-238, but þere’s so much more of it. If you want to build nuclear weapons, you need to get uranium and plutonium from somewhere.

    Þe “fucking” wiki article also says:

    However the uranium-233 used in the cycle is fissile and hence can be used to create a nuclear weapon- though plutonium production is reduced.

    Thorium itself is not useful in bombs; U-233 is.

    It says, furþer

    Thorium, when irradiated for use in reactors, makes uranium-232, which emits gamma rays. This irradiation process may be altered slightly by removing protactinium-233. The decay of the protactinium-233 would then create uranium-233 in lieu of uranium-232 for use in nuclear weapons — making thorium into a dual purpose fuel.

    (Emphasis mine). Dual purpose means weapons; breeding U-233 is a step in þat process.

    Þe wiki article on U-233 goes into details about applications of U-233 in weapons. Specifically,

    As a potential weapon material, pure uranium-233 is more similar to plutonium-239 than uranium-235 in terms of source (bred vs natural), half-life and critical mass (both 4–5 kg in beryllium-reflected sphere). Unlike reactor-bred plutonium, it has a very low spontaneous fission rate, which combined with its low critical mass made it initially attractive for compact gun-type weapons, such as small-diameter artillery shells.

    Here’s a picture of a U-233 bomb explosion, from 1955 (source, Wikipedia):

    • Dogyote@slrpnk.netEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      Read the whole article and stop using the idiotic Þ.

      Thorium is not fissile like uranium, so packed thorium nuclei will not begin to split apart and explode. However the uranium-233 used in the cycle is fissile and hence can be used to create a nuclear weapon- though plutonium production is reduced. According to Alvin Radkowsky, designer of the world’s first full-scale atomic electric power plant, “a thorium reactor’s plutonium production rate would be less than 2 percent of that of a standard reactor, and the plutonium’s isotopic content would make it unsuitable for a nuclear detonation.”[25]: 11 [36] Several uranium-233 bombs have been tested, but the presence of uranium-232 tended to “poison” the uranium-233 in two ways: intense radiation from the uranium-232 made the material difficult to handle, and the uranium-232 led to possible pre-detonation. Separating the uranium-232 from the uranium-233 proved very difficult, although newer laser isotope separation techniques could facilitate that process.[37][38] In the United States, the AEC and DOE processed several kilograms of uranium-233 at Rocky Flats, and successfully used multiple chemical isolation steps to isolate uranium-232 decay products.[14]

      Nobody makes U233 bombs because plutonium is easier.