Imagine there is table on which 1000 balls are placed. 997 of them are red and 3 are green. You have one tiny white ball on your hand, with which you can hit any of those 1000 balls. If you hit a red ball with the tiny white ball, nothing happens. Only the tiny white ball gets deflected with a reduced speed. But if you hit any of those 3 green balls with the tiny white ball at a right speed (neither too fast, nor too slow), the green ball disintegrates into 2 smaller black balls, and 2 more tiny white balls are produced. If any of these 2 tiny white balls, after attaining the right speed (neither too fast, nor too slow) hits another green ball, the same process gets repeated. The red ball stands for Uranium-238, the green ball stands for Uranium-235 and the white ball stands for neutron. The process of disintegration of the green ball into 2 black balls is called fission. Mass of the 2 black balls together is lesser than that of the green ball. This mass difference gets converted into energy. The green ball, which gets disintegrated on being hit by a white ball is called fissile material.
Natural Thorium (Th-232) is not fissile. Sustained controlled fission chain, where one fission reaction leads to another fission reaction and so on, is not possible with Th-232. Therefore, it is not possible to build natural Thorium based nuclear reactors.
In order to use the vast Thorium reserve, enough Plutonium based reactors are needed. These reactors are also called fast breeder reactors (FBRs). We do not have any operational Fast Breeder Reactor yet. One 500 MW plant is under construction. http://bhavini.nic.in/Userpages/ViewProject.aspx
Natural Uranium contains two isotopes, U-235 (0.7%) and U-238 (99.3%). Out of these two isotopes, only U-235 is useful for nuclear reactors, as it is fissile. U-238 is not fissile, similar to Th-232. However, this U-238 gets converted into Plutonium (Pu-239) during its stay inside the Uranium reactors by absorbing one neutron. This Pu-239 can then be extracted and used as fuel in Fast Breeder reactors. Therefore to sustain the Fast Breeder Reactors, enough Plutonium from Uranium based reactors is necessary. The only way it can be done is to have enough operational Uranium based reactors. This is why India is importing Uranium to sustain Uranium based reactors.
As mentioned above, Pu-239 will be used in Fast Breeder Reactors as fuel, but a blanket, or coating of Th-232 will be placed over Pu-239 (the fuel). This Th-232, during its stay inside the Fast Breeder Reactor, will get converted into Uranium-233 by absorbing one neutron. Uranium-233 is fissile but is not naturally occurring.
This Uranium-233 can then be extracted from the spent-fuel, and used as fuel in another type of reactors. Now, if you place a blanket of Th-232 over this Uranium-233 fuel, that blanket will again get converted into Uranium-233 during its stay inside the reactor by absorbing one neutron, and we will have a process where fuel can be re-generated inside the reactor! Though Uranium-233 is the fuel in these reactors, they are also termed as Thorium based reactors.
Thus in order to reach the Thorium based energy generation, building enough Plutonium stock for fast breeder reactors is necessary, which can only be done by having enough Uranium based electricity generation.
Thankfully President Trump is not only a strategic thinker but is a Doer. Powerful combination. There's the difference, Builders vs destroyers. Chess vs sand babies
Just secure the moon? What about down here on planet earth? Clean abundant infinite Energy... Maybe that's what tmtg is going to be bringing us this year...zero point energy!
I believe this is coming into play right now with Americas bold Artemis project a joint NASA and private investment notably Elon Musks company SpaceX
The plan is to colonize our moon as a test run for Mars
Imagine there is table on which 1000 balls are placed. 997 of them are red and 3 are green. You have one tiny white ball on your hand, with which you can hit any of those 1000 balls. If you hit a red ball with the tiny white ball, nothing happens. Only the tiny white ball gets deflected with a reduced speed. But if you hit any of those 3 green balls with the tiny white ball at a right speed (neither too fast, nor too slow), the green ball disintegrates into 2 smaller black balls, and 2 more tiny white balls are produced. If any of these 2 tiny white balls, after attaining the right speed (neither too fast, nor too slow) hits another green ball, the same process gets repeated. The red ball stands for Uranium-238, the green ball stands for Uranium-235 and the white ball stands for neutron. The process of disintegration of the green ball into 2 black balls is called fission. Mass of the 2 black balls together is lesser than that of the green ball. This mass difference gets converted into energy. The green ball, which gets disintegrated on being hit by a white ball is called fissile material.
Natural Thorium (Th-232) is not fissile. Sustained controlled fission chain, where one fission reaction leads to another fission reaction and so on, is not possible with Th-232. Therefore, it is not possible to build natural Thorium based nuclear reactors.
In order to use the vast Thorium reserve, enough Plutonium based reactors are needed. These reactors are also called fast breeder reactors (FBRs). We do not have any operational Fast Breeder Reactor yet. One 500 MW plant is under construction. http://bhavini.nic.in/Userpages/ViewProject.aspx
Natural Uranium contains two isotopes, U-235 (0.7%) and U-238 (99.3%). Out of these two isotopes, only U-235 is useful for nuclear reactors, as it is fissile. U-238 is not fissile, similar to Th-232. However, this U-238 gets converted into Plutonium (Pu-239) during its stay inside the Uranium reactors by absorbing one neutron. This Pu-239 can then be extracted and used as fuel in Fast Breeder reactors. Therefore to sustain the Fast Breeder Reactors, enough Plutonium from Uranium based reactors is necessary. The only way it can be done is to have enough operational Uranium based reactors. This is why India is importing Uranium to sustain Uranium based reactors.
As mentioned above, Pu-239 will be used in Fast Breeder Reactors as fuel, but a blanket, or coating of Th-232 will be placed over Pu-239 (the fuel). This Th-232, during its stay inside the Fast Breeder Reactor, will get converted into Uranium-233 by absorbing one neutron. Uranium-233 is fissile but is not naturally occurring.
This Uranium-233 can then be extracted from the spent-fuel, and used as fuel in another type of reactors. Now, if you place a blanket of Th-232 over this Uranium-233 fuel, that blanket will again get converted into Uranium-233 during its stay inside the reactor by absorbing one neutron, and we will have a process where fuel can be re-generated inside the reactor! Though Uranium-233 is the fuel in these reactors, they are also termed as Thorium based reactors.
Thus in order to reach the Thorium based energy generation, building enough Plutonium stock for fast breeder reactors is necessary, which can only be done by having enough Uranium based electricity generation.
Thankfully President Trump is not only a strategic thinker but is a Doer. Powerful combination. There's the difference, Builders vs destroyers. Chess vs sand babies
A percentage of human males need to explore or they will start yelling at the neighbor’s children and throwing rocks at passing dogs.
No one has been to the moon. The story becomes more ridiculous with each day that passes.
Interesting explanation for lunar power source and reasoning for being first. My only question is why do we need to go to Mars?
Just secure the moon? What about down here on planet earth? Clean abundant infinite Energy... Maybe that's what tmtg is going to be bringing us this year...zero point energy!
A very weird and interesting discussion 👍😊