Dr. Yevgeny Schwagraus from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, recently received a seven-figure research grant from the BSF (US-Israel Binational Science Foundation)
Dr. Yevgeni Schwagraus from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, recently received a seven-figure research grant from the BSF (US-Israel Binational Science Foundation).
Dr. Schwegraus, together with his research colleague Dr. Michael Todossov from the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, received the grant for the development and expansion of existing energy resources by implementing a thorium-uranium-233 fuel cycle in light water reactors.
The future plans for limiting carbon emissions require the expansion of the relative share of nuclear energy in the general energy production balance. The current generation of water reactors produces only less than one percent of the energy stored in nuclear fuel. This does not allow the use of nuclear energy as a long-term sustainable energy.
"In order to increase the utilization of natural resources" explains Dr. Schwagraus "nuclear energy can be produced by using fast breeder reactors (FBR). These reactors are expensive and complex to operate and build, but can produce new fissile material at the same rate as or equal to the rate at which it is consumed. This form of operation eliminates the need for uranium enrichment and increases the utilization of natural resources by several orders of magnitude. Another possibility is the application of a thorium-based fuel circuit in the existing light water reactor technology. By doing so, it is possible to take advantage of the knowledge and experience gained with the existing technology and reduce planning costs while making high use of resources."
Thorium is an element found in the earth's crust, its explosiveness is estimated to be three times greater than that of uranium. Therefore, the use of thorium in power reactors can significantly increase the treasure of available energy resources.
This project will test the possibility of converting the existing water reactor technology to a thorium-based fuel cycle in order to expand the amount of available energy resources. There are several theoretical ways to implement this idea. The research will deal with the development of innovative options for the design of a dogger reactor and at the end a recommendation will be given regarding the best design both in terms of resource utilization potential and in terms of safety and costs.
Dr. Schwagraus holds a bachelor's and master's degree in nuclear engineering from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
One response
Its explosiveness or its distribution?