There is a substitute for Uranium
The nuclear energy It has a bad reputation despite the enormous advantages it represents from an energy point of view. This well-deserved bad reputation is due first of all to its main problem; the amount of nuclear waste generated and its storage.
The following article will discuss the concept of “Green nuclear energy.”
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Background
Everyone knows the tragedy that occurred in Chernobyl in April 1986. nuclear disaster It has even been transmitted to popular culture through the miniseries “Chernobyl”, which recreates with scientific accuracy the events of the accident at the Pripyat nuclear power plant.
This incident is a resource traditionally used to attack in a certain way the use of nuclear energy sources. In nuclear history, this accident, along with the one that occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 (due to a natural disaster) are very isolated cases.
In the last 50 years, nuclear errors have been extremely low, and it can be said that today it can be considered the nuclear energy as safe.
China's green nuclear reactor
A group of Chinese scientists has designed a clean nuclear power plant, whose main characteristic and difference with respect to traditional nuclear power plants would be the use of thorium rather uranium, and would use molten salt reactors instead of fuel rods.
The Thorium It is a metal from the actinide series and has an atomic number of 90 (that is, it has 90 protons in its nucleus). Its extraction comes from minerals such as monazite, thorite or thorianite. It is a radioactive substance, since its atomic nucleus is unstable and loses energy through nuclear radiation.
From the point of view of nuclear fuel It is a good material, since it has a high effective section (measurement of interaction between projectiles and particles) against slow neutrons.
In these plants, Thorium is dissolved in a liquid fluorine salt before being sent to the reactor chamber. This type of reactors Molten salt aircraft was first designed in 1946 as a pre-US Air Force plan for the nuclear supersonic aircraft.
There were corrosion problems with Thorium, but Chinese scientists have managed to solve them, making the use of these reactors viable. At temperatures above 600ºC, Thorium derives into Uranium-233, an isotope that undergoes nuclear fission and can maintain a nuclear chain reaction, thus releasing energy and neutrons (nuclear fission).
Advantages of this type of plants
Scientists explain that the main advantage of this type of power plant compared to conventional ones is safety, since in the event that some type of leak or leak occurs, the molten salt that exists in the reactor would cool enough to seal the core, avoiding uncontrolled reactions.
In the case of Chernobyl, since this type of protection did not exist, the explosion caused the melting of the metallic materials that made up the reactor, creating the so-called “elephant foot”, a molten metal structure that absorbed radiation and continues to emit it today.
In this case, the reaction waste has a half-life of approximately 500 years, compared to Uranium waste that can remain active for more than 10,000 years.
Another advantage is that this type of clean plants They do not require water, so they can be installed in desert areas and/or far from towns, which would generate trust and security, since both the energy producing plants and their waste produced would be hundreds of kilometers from urban areas or without beings. alive around him.
With dimensions of 3 meters high and 2.5 meters wide, researchers indicate that it will be capable of generating 100 Megawatts of electricity, enough to provide electricity for 100,000 people. The effort of asian giant Producing this type of reactor has led them to achieve a pilot plant called Natrium in Wyoming, in collaboration with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, using sodium and molten salts. China is not only investing in this technology to achieve zero carbon emissions, they are also investing in hydroelectric plants or solar and wind parks to produce up to 430 Gigawatts in the next five years.
Aware of the problems of climate change, the country is aware of the havoc that environmental and climatological changes would bring to the region, already noticing increases in temperatures and lack of rain.
It is planned that the first prototype of this type of plant will be made in August 2021 and that tests with powers of 2 Megawatts will begin in September, with the idea that in 2030 the first commercial green Thorium reactor can be marketed.
