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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
S. C. Xiao, Jing Zhao, X. Heng, X. Y. Sheng, Z. Zhou, Y. Yang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 3 | October 2015 | Pages 566-572
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-907
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this paper, an innovative natural uranium-thorium fuel fusion-fission hybrid reactor (FFHR) design aiming at closed thorium-uranium fuel cycle, and which could operate with high energy gain, fast 233U breeding rate and tritium self-sufficiency, is presented. The reactor consists of two main modules, i.e. natural uranium module and thorium module, which are placed alternately in the blanket’s toroidal direction. Uranium module plays the role of energy generation and neutron multiplication at the initial stage. Excess neutrons are then used to drive the thorium module to breed 233U. After the 233U inventory reaches a certain level, the uranium module is then replaced by new thorium fuel module. The system is transition to the all thorium fueled operating mode. With appropriately selected thorium fuel to water volumetric ratio, the system could then be started by the limited bred 233U. The blanket could reach thorium-uranium closed fuel cycle with high energy gain and tritium self-sufficiency. The system could burn up about 90 tonnes 232Th at the end of 60 years operating.