Elie at 05:53, 8 February 2025

2025-02-08T05:53:44Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:53, 8 February 2025
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			[[Category:Energy sources]]
	==Summary==		==Summary==

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

Elie: Created page with "==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..."

2024-11-10T10:12:37Z

Created page with "==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..."

New page

==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> <nowiki>
</nowiki> <nowiki>
Citation:</nowiki> <nowiki>
Uranium 2020: Resources, Production and Demand ('Red Book')</nowiki> <nowiki>
"The total recoverable identified resources to $260/kg U is 8.070 million tonnes U."</nowiki> <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> <nowiki>
</nowiki> <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> <nowiki>
</nowiki> <nowiki>
Does not include the fuel used in generating electricity. See [energy.tes] for that.</nowiki> <nowiki>
</nowiki> <nowiki>
Citation: "Key World Energy Statistics 2020" IEA</nowiki> <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]]. ~ 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|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''' {{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''' {{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]]'''

Nuclear power - Revision history

Elie at 05:53, 8 February 2025