India designs World's first Thorium based Nuclear Reactor

[Chanakya's_Chant]

Interesting indeed!!
Get ready for your chemistry class tomorrow.
I dont debate when I am sleepy

Yes Yes

 

[Levina]

Lo Organic Chemistry kay spellings nahin aatiii aur Aunty hamein Chemistry 101 kiii class deiiin geeeiin !

Armstrong i'll kick you next .......HIPPO!!

 

[Robinhood Pandey]

Our media is a troll. . . .congrats anyway

 

[Armstrong]

Waisee @levina something doesn't feel right if those stats above 'One ton of Thorium can produce same energy as 200 tons of Uranium, or 3,500,000 tons of coal' that one of your compatriots posted are true then I wonder why the rest of the World didn't go for this & India was the first country in the world to have an Operational Thorium Reactor ?

Something is amiss here....something doesn't add up !

 

[dray]

Great going India.

Thanks to this fucking congress government! Reports suggest that since the UPA government assumed office in 2004 with Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, 2.1 million tones of monazite, equivalent to 195,300 tonnes of thorium at 9.3 per cent recovery, has disappeared from the shores of India. If this report is right then its really horrible! Thorium is the key to India's Energy Security! I wonder why this thing didn't came into limelight despite being a matter of grave concern!

I didn't know that, please post more on this!!

 

[KAL-EL]

Way to go india!!!

 

[dray]

Waisee @levina something doesn't feel right if those stats above 'One ton of Thorium can produce same energy as 200 tons of Uranium, or 3,500,000 tons of coal' that one of your compatriots posted are true then I wonder why the rest of the World didn't go for this & India was the first country in the world to have an Operational Thorium Reactor ?

Something is amiss here....something doesn't add up !

Because we are more intelligent than rest of the world!!

The Energy From Thorium Foundation How much Thorium would it take to Power the Whole World?

Why can 1 ton of Thorium produce as much energy as 200 tons of Uranium? : askscience

 

[Commander T]

Design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready

​

Finally, the wait is over. The design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready.

India Today Online brings you the first look of design and prototype of the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, also termed as AHWR.

It is the latest Indian design for a next-generation nuclear reactor that will burn thorium as its fuel ore.

The design is being developed at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai, India and aims to meet the objectives of using thorium fuel cycles for commercial power generation.

The AHWR is a vertical pressure tube type reactor cooled by boiling light water under natural circulation. The unique feature of this design is a large tank of water on top of the primary containment of vessel, called the gravity-driven water pool (GDWP). This reservoir is designed to perform several passive safety functions.

Dr R K Sinha, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, in an exclusive interview to India Today Online said, "This reactor could function without an operator for 120 days."​

​

The AHWR is a unit that will be fueled by a mix of uranium-233 and plutonium - which will be converted from thorium by previously deployed and domestically designed fast breeder reactors.

Thorium is an element that is three times more abundant globally than uranium. As all mined thorium is potentially usable to breed reactor fuel. India's abundant reserves of thorium, constitute 25 per cent of the world's total reserves.

Earlier, India produced the world's first thorium nuclear reactor, the Kakrapar-1, in 1993, and as part of India's three-stage fuel cycle plan, a new Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is being designed, slated for operation in 2016. The country hopes to use thorium-based reactors to meet 30 per cent of its electricity demands by 2050.

The AHWR is slated to form the third stage in India's three-stag fuel-cycle plan. It is supposed to be built starting with a 300 MW prototype in 2016. Later, the first megawatt of electricity would be be generated by 2025. "To generate a single megawatt of electricity from this world's first thorium based reactor it would take at least 7-8 years," said Dr Sinha.

Dr Sinha said, "This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, mostly imported, and will be a major contribution to global efforts to combat climate change."

It is also said to be the most secured and safest reactor, which in future, could be set up in populated cities, like - Mumbai or Delhi, "within the city".

The latest AHWR design incorporates several passive safety features. These include: Core heat removal through natural circulation; direct injection of emergency core coolant system (ECCS) water in fuel; and the availability of a large inventory of borated water in overhead gravity-driven water pool (GDWP) to facilitate sustenance of core decay heat removal. The emergency core cooling system (ECCS) injection and containment cooling can act (SCRAM) without invoking any active systems or operator action.

The reactor also incorporates advanced technologies, together with several proven positive features of Indian pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs). These features include pressure tube type design, low pressure moderator, on-power refueling, diverse fast acting shut-down systems, and availability of a large low temperature heat sink around the reactor core.

The construction on the first AHWR is scheduled to start in 2016 - though no site has yet been announced. Sources says, "nothing has decided, it could be Tarapur in Mumbai or some other location in India".

Source:- Design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready : North, News - India Today

@levina Something that might interest you di ​

shit !!!!!!!!!!! need to contact dawood ibrahim for thorium smugling

 

[Manindra]

shit !!!!!!!!!!! need to contact dawood ibrahim for thorium smugling

Dawood is our agent in Pakistan

 

[Ayush]

great for the economy.

 

[Indo-guy]

Great Going

but I don't Understand The Article says We've already produced World's first Thorium based Nuclear reactor in 1993.. Why this one is named as World's first again???

This is the first prototype commercial Thorium reactor in Asia . Earlier we had prototype experimental reactor ....

Remember this is still a prototype yet commercial reactor ...it's technology demonstrator ....we can scale up the design for higher power ...

Well we have built the first commercial reactor in Asia but not the first experimental ....there have been many experimental reactors around ...so that particular claim was not correct . Germany had Thorium based commercial prototype reactor in 1980s

again this 'first' things obsession comes from our inferiority ridden jingoistic media ...

I would be glad if they can do little research before spreading such nonsense .

Design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready

​

Finally, the wait is over. The design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready.

India Today Online brings you the first look of design and prototype of the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, also termed as AHWR.

It is the latest Indian design for a next-generation nuclear reactor that will burn thorium as its fuel ore.

The design is being developed at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai, India and aims to meet the objectives of using thorium fuel cycles for commercial power generation.

The AHWR is a vertical pressure tube type reactor cooled by boiling light water under natural circulation. The unique feature of this design is a large tank of water on top of the primary containment of vessel, called the gravity-driven water pool (GDWP). This reservoir is designed to perform several passive safety functions.

Dr R K Sinha, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, in an exclusive interview to India Today Online said, "This reactor could function without an operator for 120 days."​

​

The AHWR is a unit that will be fueled by a mix of uranium-233 and plutonium - which will be converted from thorium by previously deployed and domestically designed fast breeder reactors.

Thorium is an element that is three times more abundant globally than uranium. As all mined thorium is potentially usable to breed reactor fuel. India's abundant reserves of thorium, constitute 25 per cent of the world's total reserves.

Earlier, India produced the world's first thorium nuclear reactor, the Kakrapar-1, in 1993, and as part of India's three-stage fuel cycle plan, a new Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is being designed, slated for operation in 2016. The country hopes to use thorium-based reactors to meet 30 per cent of its electricity demands by 2050.

The AHWR is slated to form the third stage in India's three-stag fuel-cycle plan. It is supposed to be built starting with a 300 MW prototype in 2016. Later, the first megawatt of electricity would be be generated by 2025. "To generate a single megawatt of electricity from this world's first thorium based reactor it would take at least 7-8 years," said Dr Sinha.

Dr Sinha said, "This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, mostly imported, and will be a major contribution to global efforts to combat climate change."

It is also said to be the most secured and safest reactor, which in future, could be set up in populated cities, like - Mumbai or Delhi, "within the city".

The latest AHWR design incorporates several passive safety features. These include: Core heat removal through natural circulation; direct injection of emergency core coolant system (ECCS) water in fuel; and the availability of a large inventory of borated water in overhead gravity-driven water pool (GDWP) to facilitate sustenance of core decay heat removal. The emergency core cooling system (ECCS) injection and containment cooling can act (SCRAM) without invoking any active systems or operator action.

The reactor also incorporates advanced technologies, together with several proven positive features of Indian pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs). These features include pressure tube type design, low pressure moderator, on-power refueling, diverse fast acting shut-down systems, and availability of a large low temperature heat sink around the reactor core.

The construction on the first AHWR is scheduled to start in 2016 - though no site has yet been announced. Sources says, "nothing has decided, it could be Tarapur in Mumbai or some other location in India".

Source:- Design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready : North, News - India Today

@levina Something that might interest you di ​

The headline is misleading ....It's not the world's first Thorium reactor for God's sake !

 

[cirr]

World's first only in the wet dreams of dreamy Indians。

While some ignorant Indians get high on a preliminary design，China is actually building a new generation thorium molten salt reactors（MSRs）

China eyes thorium MSRs for industrial heat, hydrogen; revises timeline - The Weinberg Foundation

By the time Indians turn their so-called design（with much foreign imports and inputs）into reality，China'd be running quite a few MSRs for commercial and industrial uses。And India would need to rely on China for the necessary components and equipment。

 

[SrNair]

It has been going for quite some time dating back to 90's. Westerners realised the thorium potential much before than us. I believe, yes, thousands of tonnes of thorium rich sands were exported illegally with collusion from local politicians in TN and Kerala, areas rich in Thorium.

Its is not exported from TN and Kerala.Sands from our area specially Kerala IRE area is go to TN and then a tuticorin based business extracts some of these elements and rest of sand is go for construction.Thorium is future technology even US dont master it ,So why the hell they can export mere sand?

World's first only in the wet dreams of dreamy Indians。

While some ignorant Indians get high on a preliminary design，China is actually building a new generation thorium molten salt reactors（MSRs）

China eyes thorium MSRs for industrial heat, hydrogen; revises timeline - The Weinberg Foundation

By the time Indians turn their so-called design（with much foreign imports and inputs）into reality，China'd be running quite a few MSRs for commercial and industrial uses。And India would need to rely on China for the necessary components and equipment。

China may can create or steal and copy alien technologies but we dont "F" care..
Indians is very advanced in thorium area.Even a director in US prestigious lab acknowledge that.It is our own creation but we dont need to aware you about this.We dont need your certification.

 

[kaykay]

shit !!!!!!!!!!! need to contact dawood ibrahim for thorium smugling

haha Karega kya thorium ka? Khayega?

 

[cirr]

Indians are really really a funny bunch。

“Do More Talk Less” should become India's motto

China eyes thorium MSRs for industrial heat, hydrogen; revises timeline

November 1st, 2013

Posted by Mark Halper


China’s Hu Xongjie (r) and India’s Anil Kakodkar chat after dinner at the Thorium Energy Conference in Geneva this week. Xongjie leads China’s TMSR programme. Kakodkar, former chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission and one-time head of the country’s Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, champions thorium use in his country.

GENEVA – Thorium-fueled high temperature reactors could help alleviate China’s energy and environmental problems – including water shortages – by providing not only low carbon electricity but also clean heat for industrial processes and power for hydrogen production, the scientist in charge of developing the reactors said here.

Xu Hongjie of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Shanghai indicated that one of the two reactors he’s developing should be ready in a 100-megawatt demonstrator version by 2024, and for full deployment by 2035. A second one, based on liquid thorium fuel instead of solid, would come later, he said, hinting that it might not yet have full government financial backing.

In a presentation at the Thorium Energy Conference 2013 (ThEC13) here, he referred to both reactors as thorium molten salt reactors (TMSR). The solid fuel version uses “pebble bed” fuel – much different from today’s fuel rods – and molten salt coolant. The liquid version uses a thorium fuel mixed with molten salt. Both run at significantly higher temperatures than conventional reactors, making them suitable as industrial heat sources in industries such as cement, steel, and oil and chemicals. The thorium can also reduce the waste and the weapons proliferation threat compared to conventional reactors.

“The TMSR gets support from the Chinese government, just because China is faced with a very serious challenge, not only for energy, but also for the environment,” Hongjie said. He noted that several regions of China face water shortages in large part because China’s many coal-fired power plants require water for for cooling, as do China’s 17 conventional nuclear reactors.

“Water scarcity is very serious for China,” he said. “Most of the water has been consumed by electricity companies – for coal but also nuclear.”

GIGAWATTS AND GIGAWATTS

Nuclear reactors will help slow the growth of China’s CO2 emissions. The country today gets about 80 percent of its electricity from CO2-spewing fossil fuels. As China ramps up generating capacity to an estimated 3,000 gigawatts by 2030 – more than double today’s level – it will need to find low-carbon sources to mitigate climate change consequences.

Hongjie is the director of CAS’ of Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR), based at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, overseeing what he said is a $400 million project (China has described it in the past as $350 million). He calls the solid fuel reactor a “TMSR-SF,” and the liquid reactor a “TMSR-LF”.

One of two timelines (see below) that Hu included in his presentation showed that he expects to complete a 2-megawatt pilot for the solid fuel version by around 2015, and a 100-MW demonstrator model of the same by 2024, before readying it for live use in 2035 in “small modular” form (general industry nomenclature would call the solid fuel version an “FHR”, or fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor).

That timeline did not show a target date for a 2-MW liquid-fueled pilot reactor, which a year ago appeared to have slipped from 2017 to 2020. It did, however, show a 10-MW liquid-fueled pilot at around 2024, and a demonstrator version by 2035. It did not include a commercialization date. “For liquid, we still need the financial support from the government,” Hongjie said (story continues below chart).

China's TMSR Schedules（Where does India stand in this regard？？？）


Solidifying the future. The solid fuel (TMSR-SF) molten salt cooled thorium reactor will be ready before the liquid fuel model (LF).

Xongjie explained that the liquid version requires more complicated development than the solid version, such as “reprocessing of highly radioactive fuel salts.” But the reprocessing, when worked out, will become an advantage because it will allow re-use of spent fuel, whereas the “open” fuel cycle of the solid version will not, he noted. Hongjie said that the solid fuel version is a “precursor” to the liquid-fuel reactor.

A second timeline showed plans for developing larger TMSRs, with a 1-gigawatt capacity. It showed “commercialization” for the solid fuel version by around 2040, when the liquid 1-GW machine would reach a “demonstrator” state. The timeline does not show commercialization plans for the 1-GW liquid version. It does, however, show that a 2-MW “experimental” liquid TMSR could by ready by around 2017 (story continues below chart).


This slide, part of Hu Xongjie’s presentation, shows the timeline for a large TMSR, and suggests it would be used for hydrogen production.

After his presentation, I asked Hongjie to clarify the difference between the two timelines and the state of government financing, but he declined.

The second timeline shows the 1-GW reactors going to work for hydrogen production, a process that China mentioned at last year’s conference, held in Shanghai. Hongjie reiterated that China would combine hydrogen with carbon dioxide to form methanol, a clean energy source.

MULTIPLE USES

China has also talked about using TMSRs for coal gasification, and to convert coal to olefin and coal to diesel.

Hongjie told me the TMSRs would be used for electricity generation as well, although one slide in his presentation notes that the aim is to develop “non-electric” applications. Earlier this week at the conference, Nobel prize winning physicist Carlo Rubbia repeated an observation of his from a few years ago that China could generate the 2007 equivalent of its total electricity production – 3.2 trillion kWh, using a relatively small amount of thorium.

With those ambitious plans and with the program currently funded at around $400 million, Hongjie suggested that at some next stage the TMSR program will need an extra $2 billion “for the whole alternatives.”

China is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy on the molten salt-cooled reactor, which is the only publicly declared MSR programme in the world with funding in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The four-day ThEC, which ended on Thursday, included a clarion call from former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix for thorium fuel as an anti-proliferation choice, and an equally loud entreaty by Rubbia who said thorium has “pre-eminence” over uranium, the conventional nuclear fuel. One big uranium devotee, nuclear giant Areva, announced a thorium collaboration with Belgian chemical company Solvay.

The conference, on the campus of international physics lab CERN, featured lively discussions of how best to deploy thorium, including driving them with particle accelerators, and using uranium isotopes to start a thorium fission reaction.

Photo of Hu Xongjie and Anil Kakodkar is by Mark Halper.

Charts are from Hu Xongjie’s ThEC13 presentation.