

Transatomic Power Wants to Build a Better Reactor - markmassie
http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/start-ups/start-up-transatomic-power-wants-to-build-a-better-reactor

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jakozaur
There are quite a few independent attempts to do that:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor#Liquid_fluo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor#Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor)

Mostly based on thorium, but they seems just use enriched uranium (U-235)...
So potentially you can construct an atomic bomb fairly easily out of this
fuel.

~~~
DennisP
Very mildly enriched uranium, at just 1.8% U-235:
[http://transatomicpower.com/products.php](http://transatomicpower.com/products.php)

That's less enriched than conventional reactor fuel.

Using thorium doesn't _necessarily_ prevent proliferation. If you have a
design that separates protactinium, you can let that decay to pure U-233,
which by at least some accounts is easy to turn into a bomb.

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lutorm
It would be nice if the article had _any_ information about how this reactor
would be different from the 50-year old MSRE
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-
Salt_Reactor_Experiment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-
Salt_Reactor_Experiment))

~~~
ChuckMcM
_" Transatomic Power has greatly improved the molten salt concept, while
retaining its significant safety benefits. The main technical change we make
is to change the moderator and fuel salt used in previous molten salt reactors
to a zirconium hydride moderator, with a LiF - based fuel salt. During
operation the fuel in the salt is primarily uranium. Together, these
components generate a neutron spectrum that allows the reactor to run using
fresh uranium fuel with enrichment levels as low as 1.8% U-235, or using the
entire actinide component of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Previous molten salt
reactors such as the ORNL Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) relied on
high-enriched uranium, with 33% U-235 [1]. Enrichments that high would raise
proliferation concerns if used in commercial nuclear power plants."_

From their white paper here:
[http://transatomicpower.com/white_papers/TAP_White_Paper.pdf](http://transatomicpower.com/white_papers/TAP_White_Paper.pdf)

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spacecadet
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP1000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP1000)

