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This Nuclear Reactor Runs on Thorium and Could Be Cheaper Than Coal?
The Brief
- Copenhagen Atomics is building what it believes will be the world's first commercial thorium reactor, according to the description.
- The video is based on a visit to Denmark where the host spoke with the company's CEO and CTO and was shown the labs.
- Topics covered, per the chapter list, include how thorium breeds uranium-233 fuel, the molten salt reactor design, stainless steel corrosion, lithium-7 needs, reactor cost, safety and waste, and Denmark's nuclear ban.
- The description says the video explains how the company plans to move thorium from the drawing board to the grid.
Why watch · It offers a look at a molten salt thorium reactor project and the technical and economic questions it faces.
- Thorium
- Molten salt reactors
- Copenhagen Atomics
- Nuclear fuel cycle
Summarised by Claude from the video’s title and description – no transcript was available, so check the video for the details.
Chapters
- 0:00Why Is No Nuclear Plant Using Thorium?
- 1:56How Thorium Breeds Uranium-233 Fuel
- 5:14Inside Copenhagen Atomics’ Molten Salt Reactor
- 12:03Molten Salt Corrosion: Can Stainless Steel Survive?
- 17:49Why Thorium Reactors Need Lithium-7
- 21:58Reactor Cost, Safety and Nuclear Waste
- 26:49Denmark’s Nuclear Ban and the First Test Reactor
Show the full video description ›Hide the video description
Copenhagen Atomics are building what they believe will be the world’s first commercial thorium reactor. A few months back I flew out to Denmark and sat down with their CEO Thomas Jam Pedersen and CTO Aslak Stubsgaard, who walked me through the labs and explained how they’re planning to move thorium from the drawing board to the grid. Thanks so much to the whole team at Copenhagen Atomics for making me so welcome, check them out here: https://copenhagenatomics.com/ Also, apologies for some of the shaky camera work. A Steadicam is currently number one on the Dr Ben Miles team wish list! Sources Salt purity and 316L stainless steel corrosion (University of Liverpool and Copenhagen Atomics, Journal of Nuclear Materials): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311525007913 Status of Materials Development for Molten Salt Reactors, H. E. McCoy (ORNL/TM-5920, 1978): https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/openmsr/msr-archive/master/docs/ORNL-TM-5920.pdf Materials Development for Molten-Salt Breeder Reactors, H. E. McCoy and J. R. Weir (ORNL-TM-1854, 1967): https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/openmsr/msr-archive/master/docs/ORNL-TM-1854.pdf Thorium Fuel Cycle: Potential Benefits and Challenges (IAEA-TECDOC-1450): https://www.iaea.org/publications/7192 Chapters 0:00 Why Is No Nuclear Plant Using Thorium? 1:56 How Thorium Breeds Uranium-233 Fuel 5:14 Inside Copenhagen Atomics’ Molten Salt Reactor 12:03 Molten Salt Corrosion: Can Stainless Steel Survive? 17:49 Why Thorium Reactors Need Lithium-7 21:58 Reactor Cost, Safety and Nuclear Waste 26:49 Denmark’s Nuclear Ban and the First Test Reactor #science #thorium #nuclearpower #moltensalt My Patreon:🚀 http://patreon.com/DrBenMiles My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbenmiles My TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drbenmiles My Newsletter: https://drbenmiles.substack.com/ My Merch: https://www.rockstarscientist.org/ 🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/drbenmiles MY GEAR 📷 Sony A7III https://amzn.to/3OWrmGd 🔎 Sigma 402965 16 mm F1.4 https://amzn.to/49BNJdq 🎤 Shure SM7B https://amzn.to/4sF3ngx 🎤 Zoom H4n Pro https://amzn.to/3OXsklB 🎤 Sennheiser AVX https://amzn.to/4geWnBi