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Safeguards unclear for uranium-233 from thorium nuclear reactors

Uranium-233 is a fissile nuclide that is prepared from non-fissile thorium -232 by neutron irradiation in 
a nuclear reactor. After irradiation the thorium target elements are to be reprocessed to separate the
U-233 from the remaining Th-232. U-233 has been used during the 1950s and 1960s in the development
of nuclear rockets, nuclear ramjets for an atomic bomber, but also for civil power reactors. These technical
developments were halted in the 1970s, apparently due to various problems.
One of these problems is the presence of uranium-232, a strong gamma-emitter, which makes U-233 difficult to handle. Methods to limit the content of U-232 are expensive……..
Thorium-based reactors produce uranium-233, which has to be separated by reprocessing in order to
operate such reactors. Uranium-233 is comparable to plutonium as bomb material. The safeguards for

March 11, 2014 - Posted by | Uncategorized

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