India builds a thorium nuclear reactor

The government of India has given permission to start building a 300 MW experimental thorium reactor , the first thorium reactor in the world. Stations of this type are considered to be so safe that they can be built right within the city limits, although an experimental reactor will be built far from the city (they are now chosen from two sites).

The AHWR (advanced heavy water reactor) reactor is an advanced version of a heavy water nuclear reactor using a channel architecture, as well as plain water as a coolant. The moderator (heavy water D ₂ O) is located in channels separate from the coolant under reduced pressure.

A feature of the Indian reactor are large water tanks, which are located on top of the whole structure and perform the functions of passive safety, that is, they can cool the reactor in case of an accident.
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The development of the project is engaged in the Research Center for Nuclear Energy. The women of Mumbai. For more information about the reactor design, see the article “ Nuclear and Routing Nuclear Reactor” (Nuclear Engineering and Design, Volume 236, Issue 7-8, April 2006, Pages 683-700).

The construction of the reactor was included in the plan for the 12th five-year plan, which ends in 2016. In the future, India can build such reactors in all major cities. Adherents of a new type of fuel are convinced that thorium nuclear power plants are safer than ordinary uranium. Another advantage of thorium is its high prevalence. There is three times more thorium in the earth's crust than uranium, and almost all the material extracted (thorium-232) can be adapted for use as nuclear fuel (uranium-233). For example, in the same India, thorium reserves are estimated at 290 thousand tons, this is the second place after Australia (300 thousand tons). Thorium monazite deposits ((Ce, La, Nd, Th) PO ₄ ) are also found in many other countries that have never been considered suppliers of nuclear fuel. For example, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa.


"Black Sands" on the beach of Mariupol (Ukraine), containing monazite

Unfortunately, Russia is not among the world leaders in terms of thorium reserves, but the Russian fields also produce enough of this material to convert all power units of Russia and former CMEA countries to the thorium cycle. Moreover, the warehouses of the Uralmonacit State Enterprise, 12 km north-east of Krasnoufimsk (Sverdlovsk Region) near Zyurzya station, have stored 82,000 tons of monazite concentrate for nearly 50 years, which was collected in Mongolia in the 50s ago, China and Vietnam, suggesting use in nuclear power plants. If we take into account this warehouse, then Russia is already among the world leaders in terms of thorium reserves.

In the west, start-ups periodically appear that are trying to find financing for the construction of nuclear power plants for thorium. For example, a new company Transatomic Power has recently announced itself, which intends to build WAMSR (Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor) type reactors using molten salt as an energy source and retaining 98% of the heat released by the thorium reactor.