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2/21/2017 AcceleratordrivensubcriticalreactorWikipedia

Acceleratordrivensubcriticalreactor
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Anacceleratordrivensubcriticalreactorisanuclearreactordesignformedbycouplingasubstantially
subcriticalnuclearreactorcorewithahighenergyprotonaccelerator.Itwouldusethoriumasafuel,whichis
moreabundantthanuranium.[1]

Theneutronsneededforsustainingthefissionprocesswouldbeprovidedbyaparticleacceleratorproducing
neutronsbyspallation.Theseneutronsactivatethethorium,enablingfissionwithoutneedingtomakethe
reactorcritical.Onebenefitofsuchreactorsistherelativelyshorthalflivesoftheirwasteproducts.Thehigh
energyprotonbeamimpactsamoltenleadtargetinsidethecore,chippingorspallatingneutronsfromthe
leadnuclei.Thesespallationneutronsconvertfertilethoriumtofissileuranium233anddrivethefission
reactionintheuranium.[1]

Thoriumproduces200timesmorepowerperkilogramthanuranium.Further,thoriumreactorscangenerate
powerfromtheplutoniumresidueleftbyuraniumreactors.Thoriumdoesnotrequiresignificantrefining,
unlikeuraniumandhasahigherneutronyieldperneutronabsorbed.

Contents
1 Acceleratordevelopments
2 Safety
3 Rubbiadesign
4 Seealso
5 References
6 Externallinks

Acceleratordevelopments
TheElectronModelofManyApplications(EMMA)isanewtypeofparticleacceleratorthatcouldsupportan
ADSR.TheprototypewasbuiltatDaresburyLaboratoryinCheshire,UK.Uniquely,EMMAisanewhybridof
acyclotronandasynchrotron,combiningtheiradvantagesintoacompact,economicalform.Emmaisanon
scalingfixedfieldalternatinggradient(FFAG)accelerator.Theprototypeaccelerateselectronsfrom1020
MeV,usingtheexistingALICEacceleratorastheinjector.InFFAGacceleratorsthemagneticfieldinthe
bendingmagnetsisconstantduringacceleration,causingtheparticlebeamtomoveradiallyoutwardsasits
momentumincreases.AnonscalingFFAGallowsaquantityknownasthebetatrontunetovaryunchecked.In
aconventionalsynchrotronsuchavariationresultsinbeamlossasthetunehitsvariousresonanceconditions.
However,inEMMAthebeamcrossestheseresonancessorapidlythatthebeamsurvives.Theprototype
accelerateselectronsinsteadofprotons,butprotongeneratorscanbebuiltusingthesameprinciples.[2][3]

Safety
Unlikeuranium235,thoriumisnotfissileitessentiallydoesnotsplitonitsown,exhibitingahalflifeof
14.05billionyears(20timesthatofU235).Thefissionprocessstopswhentheprotonbeamstops,aswhen
powerislost,thusthereactorissubcritical.Onlymicroscopicquantitiesofplutoniumareproducedandcanbe
burnedinthesamereactor.[1]

Rubbiadesign

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleratordriven_subcritical_reactor 1/2
2/21/2017 AcceleratordrivensubcriticalreactorWikipedia

TheNorwegiangroupAkerSolutionsboughtUSpatent5,774,514(https://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?D
B=EPODOC&IDX=US5,774,514)"Energyamplifierfornuclearenergyproductiondrivenbyaparticlebeam
accelerator"heldbyNobelPrizewinningphysicistCarloRubbiaandisworkingonathoriumreactor.The
companyproposesanetworkofsmall600megawattreactorslocatedundergroundthatcansupplysmallgrids
anddonotrequireanenormousfacilityforsafetyandsecurity.Costsforthefirstreactorareestimatedat
2bn.[4]

RichardGarwinandGeorgesCharpakdescribetheenergyamplifierindetailintheirbook"Megawattsand
Megatons:ATurningPointintheNuclearAge?"(2001)onpages153to163.

Earlier,thegeneralconceptoftheenergyamplifier,namelyanacceleratordrivensubcriticalreactor,was
coveredin"TheSecondNuclearEra"(1985)bookbyAlvinM.Weinbergandothers.

Seealso
Liquidfluoridethoriumreactor
Energyamplifier

References
1."Towardsanalternativenuclearfuture|University 3.Machida,S.Barlow,R.Berg,J.S.Bliss,N.
Alliance".Unialliance.ac.uk.Retrieved20130906. Buckley,R.K.Clarke,J.A.Craddock,M.K.
2."NaturePhysicsCover:NovelAcceleration| dArcy,R.Edgecock,R.Garland,J.M.Giboudot,
TRIUMF:Canada'sNationalLaboratoryforParticle Y.Goudket,P.Griffiths,S.Hill,C.Hill,S.F.
andNuclearPhysics".Triumf.ca.20120308. Hock,K.M.Holder,D.J.Ibison,M.G.Jackson,
Retrieved20130906. F.Jamison,S.P.Johnstone,C.Jones,J.K.Jones,
L.B.Kalinin,A.Keil,E.Kelliher,D.J.Kirkman,
I.W.Koscielniak,S.Marinov,K.Marks,N.
(2012)."Accelerationinthelinearnonscalingfixed
fieldalternatinggradientacceleratorEMMA".Nature
Physics.8(3):243.doi:10.1038/nphys2179.
4.EvansPritchard,Ambrose."Obamacouldkillfossil
fuelsovernightwithanucleardashforthorium".
Telegraph.Retrieved20130906.
3.Machida,S.Barlow,R.Berg,J.S.Bliss,N.
Externallinks
USpatent5,160,696(https://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US5,160,696)
TowardsanAlternativeNuclearFuturebyProfessorRobertCywinski(https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=hspcafUoh6M)onYouTube

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Categories: Nuclearpowerreactortypes Thorium

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