Magdi Ragheb - Thorium Fuel Cycle Using Electrostatic & Electrodynamic Neutron Generators @ TEAC4

Magdi Ragheb from University of Illinois presented to TEAC4 his & Monish Singh's work on using electrostatic & electrodynamic neutron generators to seed the thorium fuel cycle.

Presented at TEAC4 in Chicago on May 31st 2012.

[johnbabu]

I like this idea over accelerator driven subcritical reactor

[thememeoverlord.]

Oak Ridge experimented with neutron emitter tubes.

[ancapftw]

This reminds me of an idea I had for just putting a thorium blanket around a Farnsworth Fusor to breed Thorium. This should work much better, though.

[TheAntiMalthusian]

Thanks for posting all these Gordon I've been looking forward to seeing all the speeches from the latest TEA Conference LFTR really is the answer

[williamoforange]

"the Best is the Enemy of the Good."-- Tolstoy               Let us keep an open mind 'cause in the end we all want the same things.

[Invaderzerg]

Yes, i don't get it either. There is no way to mix fusion in the equation. just keep it simple LFTR is the answer

[ostlandr]

Excellent video!  Glad to see somebody thinking along the same lines I am.  Besides coupled fusion-fission as described, another possibility is a sub-critical reactor.  If you have a sufficiently cheap, compact and powerful neutron source, you can raise the neutron flux in a sub-critical fuel assembly enough to start a chain reaction.  To stop the reaction, switch off the neutron source.  You still have residual and decay heat to deal with, but you eliminate the control rods entirely.  That could open the door to reactors compact enough to power a locomotive.  And a railroad locomotive can use over 200 gallons of diesel fuel per hour at full throttle.  That's a LOT of petroleum wasted as fuel, and a LOT of emissions.