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Liquid Fluoride Reactors: A New Beginning for an Old Idea

Can Nuclear Help Solve our Energy and Climate Change Problems?. The nuclear industry would be more than happy with building 400 reactors over the next 30 yearsBut that merely keeps the status quoThousands of large reactors are needed to truly make a difference.Is there any way that exist

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Liquid Fluoride Reactors: A New Beginning for an Old Idea

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    1. Liquid Fluoride Reactors: A New Beginning for an Old Idea Feb 19th 2009 Google Tech Talk Dr. David LeBlanc Physics Dept, Carleton University, Ottawa & Ottawa Valley Research Associates Ltd. d_leblanc@rogers.com

    2. Can Nuclear Help Solve our Energy and Climate Change Problems? The nuclear industry would be more than happy with building 400 reactors over the next 30 years But that merely keeps the status quo Thousands of large reactors are needed to truly make a difference. Is there any way that existing or “next generation” designs can realistically accomplish this?

    3. Seven Reactor Design Priorities Overall Power Costs Capital Costs Fuel plus O&M Safety Resource Utilization Quantity and Quality of Starting Load Annual Requirements Proliferation Resistance Subversion to a State Program Theft and/or Terrorist Take Over Long Term Waste Radiotoxicity R&D Requirements Capability for Rapid Deployment

    4. PWRs, BWRs and CANDUs Overall Costs High capital but arguably competitive with coal Safety Good through costly “Defence in Depth” Resource Utilization Moderate for startup, Very poor annual Proliferation Resistance Good if international safeguards maintained Long Term Wastes Once Through cycle extremely poor, Pu recycle not much better R&D - Very Little Required Capability for Rapid Deployment Labour requirements alone limit growth

    5. What About Gas Cooled Pebble Beds? Costs savings possible but no great reduction in overall complexity Massive pressure vessel and needs of decay heat removal limit core size and power Rad Waste production very similar (with radioactive graphite as an added bonus) Reprocessing of fuel extremely difficult, so an even worse outlook for uranium resources From safety outlook, excellent for decay heat management but criticality events still a possible issue*

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