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Gold/Mining/Energy : What is Thorium
LTBR 24.41+2.6%Oct 28 3:59 PM EDT
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Hawkmoon
From: FJB10/14/2015 4:33:10 PM
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TerraPower, a nuclear power plant design firm owned by Bill Gates, signed a collaboration agreement with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) last month to build TerraPower's SWR (Standing Wave Reactor) several weeks ago. TerraPower previously signed a similar agreement with Babcock & Wilcox which manufactures nuclear reactors for the US Navy.

TerraPower’s fast neutron SWR design is cooled with liquid sodium. The SWR primarily uses natural unenriched uranium, depleted uranium, spent fuel from old reactors, or thorium as fuel. The reaction is initiated with a small amount of enriched fissile material like Uranium-235 which then enriches the adjoining the depleted fuel or raw uranium.

Breed-and-burn reactors were first proposed and studied in 1958 by Saveli Feinberg as a Travelling Wave Reactor where the site of the reaction moves toward the fuel rods in the exterior of the rod pack over a period of years.

Travelling Wave Reactors create an engineering problem as the location of the heat source changes over time. The TerraPower design periodically moves the fuel rods to create a fixed location where the standing wave reaction occurs.

China’s plan to build 400 new nuclear reactors by mid-century created a huge market for any company dedicated to design and build next-generation reactors. Last year, President Jinping called for even faster development of nuclear energy.

Zhimin Qian, President of China National Nuclear Corp, left, shakes hands with Lee McIntire, CEO of TerraPower
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