Yeah when the goal is safe clean nuclear power and weapons grade material isn’t a design requirement your options are much better. LFTRs are my favorite type of fast reactor breeder since thorium is so incredibly abundant (its actually a waste product from rare earth production which is why China has the first LFTR pilot plant since 1960)
If they can figure out how to continuously purify the liquid core salt (nuclear kidney is what they call it) then you have a potential contender for all future human base load power until we can figure out fusion.
Also the high grade waste from these plants are miniscule since they’re so good at converting large atoms into smaller ones. Continuous reprocessing also means you tap that stream off and can vitrify it inside layers of glass for long term storage constantly.
Yeah when the goal is safe clean nuclear power and weapons grade material isn’t a design requirement your options are much better. LFTRs are my favorite type of fast reactor breeder since thorium is so incredibly abundant (its actually a waste product from rare earth production which is why China has the first LFTR pilot plant since 1960)
If they can figure out how to continuously purify the liquid core salt (nuclear kidney is what they call it) then you have a potential contender for all future human base load power until we can figure out fusion.
Also the high grade waste from these plants are miniscule since they’re so good at converting large atoms into smaller ones. Continuous reprocessing also means you tap that stream off and can vitrify it inside layers of glass for long term storage constantly.