tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479116660852719581.post9069364175483219346..comments2023-02-09T00:57:39.290+01:00Comments on Living in the Lot: China’s faces technical challenges to develop thorium based nuclear powerJohn in the Lothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03859716926230240245noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479116660852719581.post-29430768114222594522013-09-08T20:51:11.023+02:002013-09-08T20:51:11.023+02:00Thanks for the reply. I'm happy to hear other...Thanks for the reply. I'm happy to hear others are thinking about best uses and multiple uses of that abundant energy source. it seems much broader planning particularly in the infrastructure that supports the power plant can improve synergies with other industries. For instance, planning a rail spur or hub at or near the plant could make transport of materials like lime practical. I recently heard of a plan to ship frozen chicken to China for processing then ship it back as finished product... I think some graph theory applied to existing transport routes and industries can result in optimal placement of plants, their new codependent industries and changes to transport paths.Power to the Peoplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14584402374331829833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479116660852719581.post-32580221608504962982013-09-06T09:38:53.165+02:002013-09-06T09:38:53.165+02:00Hi Billy,
Yes, it’s clear that molten salt systems...Hi Billy,<br />Yes, it’s clear that molten salt systems can provide high temperature energy for process industries. Others have written about this as one of the advantages of Molten Salt Reactors such as Robert Hargraves in chapter 7 of his book ”Thorium – energy cheaper than coal”, where he also considers using energy from this source to synthesize ammonia for use as a vehicle fuel, for desalination and for generating hydrogen.<br /><br />I agree that all this is possible and I would like to see it happen but, just taking the case of cement plants, they are usually very near the quarries, they often have very little staff and minimal security. In fact they run on a shoestring in a very competitive market. <br />As I comment in my review of Hargraves’ book http://johnpreedy.blogspot.fr/2012/11/thorium-energy-cheaper-than-coal.html it would seem to me to need a number of large energy intensive industrial sites grouped around a process heat generating plant which is run by a company specializing in nuclear power plant operation. Otherwise I doubt whether such process industries would want to consider taking on the regulatory burden, the extra cost and the expert staff necessary to operate such a facility. One could perhaps imagine a plant for synthesizing vehicle fuels run by one of the large oil companies, who could subcontract the construction and operation of a molten salt reactor to another company, but I think that it would have to be a very large scale investment in order to justify the decision NOT to burn oil as an energy source. It really would have to provide reliable very cheap energy 24/7!<br />John in the Lothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03859716926230240245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479116660852719581.post-51722979286190929252013-09-04T18:51:49.609+02:002013-09-04T18:51:49.609+02:00I've noticed that the temperatures of these mo...I've noticed that the temperatures of these molten salt systems are near the roasting temperature of lime for portland cement. Now that means introducing a lot of carbon into the atmosphere by burning a fuel. I wonder out loud if a roasting system can be incorporated in a diverted secondary loop (may be more practical in the solar case...)Power to the Peoplehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14584402374331829833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479116660852719581.post-46137889705973565652013-09-04T14:59:01.490+02:002013-09-04T14:59:01.490+02:00Barry,
in answer to your question, the best I can...Barry, <br />in answer to your question, the best I can offer is to point you to this paper from the Oak Ridge archives http://www.energyfromthorium.com/pdf/FFR_chap12.pdf . It takes a detailed look at different salt mixtures and their chemistry. It's a very old piece of work though and there may well be more recent papers published elsewhere.<br />I expect you are familiar with the Andasol plant in Andalucia, which uses technology for energy storage similar to that which you describe. Since you are working in the field you are probably aware of other schemes in the construction or planning stages. John in the Lothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03859716926230240245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6479116660852719581.post-75336464160960847342013-09-04T14:05:26.053+02:002013-09-04T14:05:26.053+02:00John,
As a mechanical engineering doctoral candi...John, <br /><br />As a mechanical engineering doctoral candidate, I am working with heat storage for concentrated solar thermal power systems. One common approach to CSP is to use a central power tower heating a molten salt working fluid, which is used for many of the same reasons as in the MSR: high heat capacity, stability at high temperatures, atmospheric pressure capability.<br /><br />Given this similarity, I am aiming to push toward a hybridized CSP/MSR setup. In the long-run, such a system could stabilize the intermittent nature of solar power while reducing the fuel costs of nuclear (currently low, but will increase as the MSR becomes more prevalent).<br /><br />Aside from FLiBe and FLiNaK, what salt compositions did the MSRE team identify as being suitable for fission? Both CSP and MSR technologies could benefit from developing a joint market for a crossover salt, leading to an increase in production and drop in price.<br /><br />-Barry Osterman-BurgessAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00692677951887453954noreply@blogger.com