3 ms·
To be clear the worry was not about a meltdown, but that Thorium can be used to create Plutonium 233, per the article I cited.
by SubiculumCode 9y ago
To be clear the worry was not about a meltdown, but that Thorium can be used to create Plutonium 233, per the article I cited.
- acidburnNSA 9y agoRight. A Thorium-232 atom that absorbs a neutron becomes Protactinium-233 which decays to Uranium-233, a fissile nuclide like U-235 and Plutonium-239. This is how the controlled chain reactor works but like any fissile material it also has potential weapons uses. Thus, Thorium reactors require safeguards and monitoring just like any other peaceful nuclear reactor.