Thorium Energy Conference

ThEC2010

The International Thorium Energy Organisation – IThEO - Is Calling for Leading Voices in the Field of Energy to Attend This Year's Thorium Energy Conference, ThEC2010, 17th – 20th October 2010 at the Royal Institution.

Thorium is an abundant, proven nuclear fuel that can be the foundation for the most affordable, safe, available, clean and sustainable energy infrastructure ever created.

Situation

Today's nuclear energy was developed in a time with rather different circumstances and priorities. Still, the general consensus is to support these uranium based programs. The main thrust of this current plan is to build more of the same – Generation 3+ reactors – albeit with improvements in design and performance.

Various bodies robustly defend the past record and the future industry prospects, claiming - in contrast to broad public perceptions – that there are no problems regarding:

• safety record
• disposal of hazardous waste
• economic competitiveness
• contribution to combating climate change
• long term sustainability in terms of fuel resources

Opportunity

ThEC20210 is an important opportunity for leading voices on all sides to engage in a much-needed open debate about current options for new energy development across the globe, setting the bar for the rest of the world in addrressing these critical issues, at large.

IThEO believes that an important component of this debate will be the role of Thorium Energy in the overall plan for new energy infrastructure development, and indeed, in a new energy future.

Liquid Fuel

A Molten Salt Reactor was first developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the late 1940s and the 1950s intended for military jet aircraft propulsion. By 1954, the 2.5 MW Aircraft Reactor Experiment was demonstrating high-temperature operation, establishing performing benchmarks for circulating fluoride molten salt systems with uranium dissolved in the salt. The experimental reactor was followed in the 1960s by an 8 MW reactor which was successfully operated for 13,000 hours between 1965 and 1968. This program was discontinued in 1976 because it had no weapons potential. In 2004 a conference paper from the Oak Ridge, it was stated:

‘As a consequence of changing goals and potentially major improvements in the technology, the Molten Salt Reactor is one of the six advanced reactor concepts identified by the Generation IV International Forum as a candidate for cooperative development’.
Three crucial improvements in technology are: Brayton power cycles, compact heat exchangers, and carbon-carbon composites.

Advantages

Thorium fueled Molten Salt Reactors can offer numerous significant advantages including:

• safety in operation and maintenance, because
  • the reactor works at atmospheric pressure with no risk of steam or other explosions, and
  • on-line reprocessing which allows the continuous removal of quite small amounts of waste material with a half-life of about 30 years,
• the Molten Salt Reactor operates at very high temperatures (> 650° C), so more efficient conversion to electric power is obtained,
• typically the Molten Salt Reactor works in either small or large sizes giving flexibility in application,
• the nuclear reaction follows demand – speeding up or slowing down as the load dictates,
• Thorium is 3 to 4 times more abundant than uranium, and far less difficult to mine and process,
• Molten Salt Reactors have 97% burn-up of fuel compared with about 2% for a light water reactor using solid fuel rods,
• the Thorium fuel cycle is proliferation resistant because it is easily verifiable.

Your Role

With all the advantages taken together, Thorium Energy can become the most sustainable energy source known to man, whether measured by affordability, safety, availability, emissions, or efficiency.
ThEC2010 presents the best opportunity to position your company or organization in a field that will experience record-setting growth as an indispensable part of a secure energy future.

For further information we welcome you to visit www.IThEO.org

We look forward to seeing you at ThEC2010

17th – 20th October 2010 at the Royal Institution