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Thorium reactor design

Continuous spiral flow thorium molten salt breeder reactor
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A cylinder with a spiral shaped guide inside directs the flow of Thorium salt around a central core, where it is extracted for purification and resupply of fresh Th fuel by florination etc; and the fresh molten salt is re-added to the outside of the spiral.

The core is equipped with a neutron source such as an accelerator, or alternatively U salts are added at a single or several points towards the core of the spiral coil.

As the salt works its way around the spiral and towards the center it becomes more fissile, and is finally burnt up as it reaches the center in a well balanced reaction. The speed of flow and length of the spiral helps to moderate the reactor and maintain the correct ratio of Th/U at various points of the spiral.

Gas and unwanted isotope etc. buildup could be alleviated by extraction directly into the spiral from above.

The whole cylinder is immersed in a heat transferring medium, eg. air.

peterpeter, Mar 23 2011

Telegraph Link on benefits of Thorium http://www.telegrap...y-with-thorium.html
Telegraph Link on benefits of Thorium [peterpeter, Mar 26 2011]

Thorium Video http://www.youtube....watch?v=AHs2Ugxo7-8
A nice video about advantages of thorium over uranium [peterpeter, Mar 29 2011]

Quick Video Sword to Ploughshares http://www.youtube....nRk&feature=related
Thorium advantages and why we originally went with uranium [peterpeter, Mar 29 2011]

[link]






       Interesting, but I need a little background on the reactions to get this...
MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 23 2011
  

       [peterpeter], one of the 'bakery's more discrete players - thirteen annoed ideas and eight ideas of his own in eight years.   

       Sometimes I feel like one of those sportscasters - "Frank, that's only the third time a player has run for 43 yards in the second quarter on a Monday night."
normzone, Mar 23 2011
  

       Hang on, I've run out of thumbs again... so shooting the Thorium through fast means a smaller output, yes ?
FlyingToaster, Mar 23 2011
  

       The Molten Thorium Salt Reactor is a well studied breeder design. The difference with this one is the development of hot spots.
ldischler, Mar 23 2011
  

       Not that I've bothered to look it up, but this design is to minimize radioactive emission: the new salt being introduced to the outside of the ball blocks the emissions of the fissing salt further on through... or something like that.
FlyingToaster, Mar 23 2011
  

       The real problem here is there are all sorts of fission products being created, and some of them probably need to be continuously removed (gasses, for instance), while this idea seems to envision a very slow flow, almost one pass situation.
ldischler, Mar 23 2011
  

       The above comments have been used to rewrite the idea (originally a ball -- now a spiral), thank you for your help!
peterpeter, Mar 29 2011
  

       No pumpkin seeds?
RayfordSteele, Mar 30 2011
  
      
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