Seminars

Sustainable Thorium Energy for the World

by Dr Jean-Pierre Revol (international Thorium Energy Committee (iThEC) & Centro Fermi)

Europe/Stockholm
Rydbergsalen (Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department)

Rydbergsalen

Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department

Description
To meet the tremendous world energy needs, systematic R&D has to be pursued to replace fossil fuels. Nuclear energy, which produces no green-house gases and no air pollution, should be a leading candidate. How nuclear energy, based on thorium rather than uranium, could be an acceptable solution is discussed. Thorium can be used both to produce energy and to destroy nuclear waste. It is seriously considered by some major developing countries as a key element of their energy strategy. However, developed countries do not seem to move fast enough in that direction, while global cooperation is highly desirable in this domain. Various possibilities of using thorium, which is not fissile, will be reviewed. An elegant option is a subcritical system driven by a proton accelerator (ADS). Two new projects related to ADS proposed by iThEC will be described.
Slides