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

  • Dogyote@slrpnk.net
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    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.