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A sample of thorium. Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium.A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle [Note 1] —including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced ...
Fission product yields by mass for thermal neutron fission of U-235 and Pu-239 (the two typical of current nuclear power reactors) and U-233 (used in the thorium cycle). This page discusses each of the main elements in the mixture of fission products produced by nuclear fission of the common nuclear fuels uranium and plutonium.
Uranium is the 48th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. [60] The decay of uranium, thorium, and potassium-40 in Earth's mantle is thought to be the main source of heat [61] [62] that keeps the Earth's outer core in the liquid state and drives mantle convection, which in turn drives plate tectonics.
The thorium fuel cycle has several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle, including thorium's greater abundance, superior physical and nuclear properties, reduced plutonium and actinide production, [1] and better resistance to nuclear weapons proliferation when used in a traditional light water reactor [1] [2] though not in a molten ...
Uranium-233 is made from thorium-232 by neutron bombardment. Uranium-235 is important for both nuclear reactors (energy production) and nuclear weapons because it is the only isotope existing in nature to any appreciable extent that is fissile in response to thermal neutrons, i.e., thermal neutron capture has a
Uranium from natural sources is enriched by isotope separation, and plutonium is produced in a suitable nuclear reactor. Experiments have been conducted with uranium-233 (the fissile material at the heart of the thorium fuel cycle). Neptunium-237 and some isotopes of americium might be usable, but it is not clear that this has ever been ...
Uranium ores with low thorium concentrations can be purified to produce gram-sized thorium samples of which over a quarter is the 230 Th isotope, since 230 Th is one of the daughters of 238 U. [27] The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) reclassified thorium as a binuclidic element in 2013; it had formerly been considered ...
thorium-232 which converts into uranium-233; uranium-234 which converts into uranium-235; uranium-238 which converts into plutonium-239; Artificial isotopes formed in the reactor which can be converted into fissile material by one neutron capture include: plutonium-238 which converts into plutonium-239; plutonium-240 which converts into ...