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See Copenhagen Atomic's progress towards real commercial Thorium energy here: https://www.copenhagenatomics.com
This video looks at how thorium reactors generate more fissile material than they consume!
REFERENCES
- Thermal breeder reactors: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ns.22.120172.001533
- Thorium reactor: https://www.ans.org/pubs/proceedings/article-59521/
- World Nuclear Association: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium
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Minute Physics provides an energetic and entertaining view of old and new problems in physics -- all in a minute!
Created by Henry Reich
Produced by Joshua Chawner
See Copenhagen Atomic's progress towards real commercial Thorium energy here: https://www.copenhagenatomics.com
Most channels sponsors: Squarespace, RAID Shadow Legends, Factor... etc. Minute Physics sponsor: Copenhagen Atomics Some are just cut from a different kind of cloth.
But the cons were the interesting part of the story! Future video? 🙏
1:50 Why is there uranium in the cooling tower? Something has gone horribly wrong!
It’s crazy how much understandable science was packed into the first 4 minutes of this video. I watch all of Kyle Hill’s videos and I’ve heard a lot about Thorium but I’ve never heard it explained in such a detailed yet still clear way as this. Well done MinutePhysics. 👏
Some good news, India has been investing into R&D of Thorium based fast breeder reactors and achieved criticality just last month! India now moves on to final phase of their decades long nuclear plan to deploy 100+GW of Nuclear energy by 2047 primarily through these fast breeder reactors.
Wow I wouldn't have known that Uranium was into that kind of thing
Don't you just love it when the Actinides and Lanthanides are included in the periodic table instead of at the bottom with a footnote ?
So it's like a sourdough starter?
India’s nuclear energy plan is to implement exactly this. We just implemented stage 2 fast breeder reactor a month ago. We also have world’s largest Thorium reserves. In stage 3, we will be using thorium.
Just saw Sam O'nellas Video about thorium yesterday, this feels like a lost sequel and i love it.
Using graph to show decay is brilliant
2:37 India 500mw fast breeder reactors achieved criticality
When I looked at the title, I thought you were going to mention India's PFBR which achieved criticality last month as it is a major stepping stone for India to reduce its reliance on external energy sources as it holds worlds 1/4th Thorium reserve! Guess next time 🙂
So alchemy. We do alchemy and it produces energy. I love it here.
The distinction between fissile and fertile isotopes is such an elegant way to explain how thorium reactors actually work.
I do have to point out that you draw your radiation signs upside down. It is actually easy to remember how to draw it correctly: One of the blades is pointing straight down, so that the configuration is unstable, just like a radioactive nucleus.
3:01 I did not even know that we had an element called Protactinium
See also "Why thorium rocks" by sam o nella academy
India developed fast breeder reactor reached critical phase recently, india don't have enough uranium therefore the use thorium because it's abundant there. It's part of a bigger plane to have sustainable nuclear power for the future.