Commercial nuclear power station

India’s Kakrapar-1 reactor is the world’s first reactor which uses thorium
rather than depleted uranium to achieve power flattening across the reactor
core. India which has about 25% of the world’s thorium reserves is
developing a 300 MW prototype of a thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water
Reactor (AHWR). The prototype is expected to be fully operational by 2011
following which five more reactors will be constructed.Considered to be
a global leader in thorium-based fuel India’s new thorium reactor is a
fast-breeder reactor and uses a plutonium core rather than an accelerator to
produce neutrons. As accelerator-based systems can operate at
sub-criticality they could be developed too but that would require more
research. India currently envisages meeting 30% of its electricity
demand through thorium-based reactors by 2050.
[edit] Existing thorium energy projects
In 2007 Norway was debating whether or not to focus on thorium plants
because of the large deposits of thorium ores in the country particularly
at Fensfeltet near Ulefoss in Telemark county.
The primary fuel of the HT3R Project near Odessa Texas USA will be
ceramic-coated thorium beads.
However the best results occur with molten salt reactors (MSRs) such as
ORNL’s liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) which have built-in
negative-feedback reaction rates due to salt expansion and thus reactor
throttling via load. This is a great safety advantage since no emergency
cooling system is needed which is both expensive and adds thermal
inefficiency. In fact an MSR was chosen as the base design for the 1960s
DoD Atomic Plane largely because of its great safety advantages even under
aircraft maneuvering. In the basic design an MSR generates heat at higher
temperatures continuously and without refuelling shutdowns so it can
provide hot air to a more efficient (Brayton Cycle) turbine. An MSR run this
way is about 30% better in thermal efficiency than common thermal plants
whether combustive or traditional solid-fuelled nuclear.
In 2010 Congressman Joe Sestak added funding for research and development
of a destroyer-sized reactor using thorium.
CANDU reactors of Atomic Energy Canada Limited are capable of using thorium
as a fuel source.
At the 2011 annual conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences it was
announced that “China has initiated a research and development project in
thorium molten-salt reactor technology.”