View source for Nuclear power

[[Category:Energy sources]]
==Summary==
Considering the different types of nuclear power, it seems that '''[[thorium power]]''' is the one with the least problems. Here's a comparison:

{|class='wikitable'
!rowspan='2' |Type of nuclear power
!colspan='3' |Problems if scaled up
|-
!Fuel scarcity
!Weapons proliferation
!Nuclear waste
|-
|[[Conventional nuclear power]] {{light|(status quo)}}
|{{rcell}} Problem
|Low risk
|{{rcell}} Problem
|-
|[[Conventional small nuclear reactors]]
|{{rcell}} Problem
|{{rcell}} High risk
|{{rcell}} Problem
|-
|[[Uranium-238 breeder reactors]] {{p|Additional benefit: Uranium-238 reactors would make use of existing nuclear waste, which has been left over from decades of conventional nuclear power.}}
|Abundant
|{{rcell}} High risk
|Almost none
|-
|[[Thorium-232 breeder reactors]]
|Abundant
|Low risk
|Almost none
|-
|[[Fusion]] {{b|#F66|(not viable yet)}}
|Abundant
|Low risk
|Almost none
|-
|colspan=4|{{minor|^ For more details, follow these links in the leftmost column.}}
|}

==Fuel scarcity==
[[File:Shinarump Mine Waste Rock.jpg|thumb|Uranium occurs naturally as a mix of two isotopes: uranium-235 '''(0.7%)''' and uranium-238 '''(99.3%)'''.]]

{{dp
|<nowiki>uranium.reserves</nowiki>
|<nowiki>8.070 million tonnes uranium_natural</nowiki>
|<nowiki>Global uranium mineral reserves, measured in energy units</nowiki>
|<nowiki>The calculator understands "tonnes uranium_natural" as an energy unit. It's based on the fact that natural uranium is just 0.7% uranium-235 (the isotope we extract energy from). The rest is uranium-238, which isn't useful for energy unless we use breeder reactors.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
Citation:</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
Uranium 2020: Resources, Production and Demand ('Red Book')</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
"The total recoverable identified resources to $260/kg U is 8.070 million tonnes U."</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
</nowiki>
}}
{{dp
|<nowiki>nuclear_power_plant.efficiency</nowiki>
|<nowiki>33%</nowiki>
|<nowiki>Electrical output divided by the heat energy of the nuclear reactor</nowiki>
|<nowiki>Nuclear power plants convert heat (from uranium-235, currently) into electricity. The process is approximately 33% efficient.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
Citation: Key World Energy Statistics 2020 (IEA report) - Page 73 - Glossary - Nuclear</nowiki>
}}
{{dp
|<nowiki>energy.tfc</nowiki>
|<nowiki>9937.70 Mtoe/year</nowiki>
|<nowiki>Global energy usage - total final consumption (TFC)</nowiki>
|<nowiki>Includes: fuel (80.7%) + electricity (19.3%) AFTER it is generated.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
Does not include the fuel used in generating electricity. See [energy.tes] for that.</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
Citation: "Key World Energy Statistics 2020" IEA</nowiki><br /><nowiki>
- Page 47 - Simplified energy balance table - World energy balance, 2018</nowiki>
}}

* Conventional nuclear power uses only the '''uranium-235''' part of the fuel. The uranium-238 becomes nuclear waste.
** If all the world's energy were to be produced this way, we'd '''run out''' of uranium-235 in just '''4 years.'''
<div style="margin: -0.5em 0 0.5em 3em">
{{p2|(see maths)|{{calc|uranium.reserves * nuclear_power_plant.efficiency|years energy.tfc|||}} }}
{{p2|(more)|~ We'd run out even faster [[energy demand scenarios|if all nations were developed]].<br /><br />~ In either case, conventional nuclear power can't really meet global energy demands. Best case, it might be sufficient for [[baseload]] electricity only (which is a smaller part of total [[energy demand]]).}}
<!-- TALK: There's another way this can be calculated: comparing 'uranium primary energy' vs 'fossil fuel primary energy'. Both calculations produce about the same result. It might be worth refactoring this page to include both, if it can be done in a way that doesn't make things seem more complicated for the reader.
-->
{{talk|Uranium can also be obtained from seawater, but doing that is so energy-intensive that we wouldn't "[[EROI|break even]]" unless we were to use both the U-235 and U-238 components.}}
</div>

* Breeder reactors can make use of the '''uranium-238'''<br />{{light|(by first converting it to plutonium-239)}}
** But that comes with a lot of risks regarding nuclear weapons proliferation.

* Breeder reactors can also make use of '''thorium-232'''<br />{{light|(by first converting it to uranium-233)}}
** Overall, a less weaponizable fuel.
** In terms of mining, thorium is about as abundant as uranium. It occurs naturally {{t2|mixed with|Thorium is currently considered a by-product of rare-earth mining. But if thorium power were scaled up enough, maybe the other rare-earth elements would become the by-products?}} neodymium and other {{rare earth}} metals, which we would need anyway for the magnets in electric vehicle motors.
** Thorium can also be found in ordinary soil in low concentrations. {{en}}


==Next steps==
* '''[[Next steps for thorium power]]'''