Reprocessing spent fuel requires chopping up radioactive fuel rods by remote control, then dissolving them in concentrated nitric acid from which plutonium is precipitated out by complex chemical means. While uranium enrichment is already very expensive, the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from uranium powered reactors is enormously expensive and very dangerous to the workers who are exposed to toxic radioactive isotopes during the process. It is, therefore, necessary to mix thorium with either enriched uranium-235 (up to 20 per cent enrichment) or with plutonium – both of which are innately fissionable – to get the process going. The truth is, thorium is not a naturally fissionable material. taxpayers billions of dollars, while billions more dollars are still required to dispose of the highly toxic waste emanating from these failed trials. The longstanding effort to produce these reactors cost the U.S. And because of the complexity of problems listed below, thorium reactors are far more expensive than uranium fueled reactors. Four commercial thorium reactors were constructed, all of which failed. tried for 50 years to create thorium reactors, without success. Thorium reactors are amongst those being suggested at this time. After 50 years and four failures, the US abandoned thorium reactorsĪs Australia is grappling with the notion of introducing nuclear power into the country, it seems imperative the general public understand the intricacies of these technologies so they can make informed decisions.
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