Interesting Items
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Articles I've Done Significant Work On
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(though not necessarily recently)

 
I made this image showing waypoints for Linnaeus' Lapland expedition.
Thorium
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By 1946, only eight years after the discovery of nuclear fission, three fissile isotopes had been publicly identified for use as nuclear fuel:[1][2]

Th-232, U-235 and U-238 are primordial nuclides, having existed in their current form for over 4.5 billion years, predating the formation of the Earth; they were forged in the cores of dying stars through the r-process and scattered across the galaxy by supernovas.[4] Their radioactive decay produces about half of the earth's internal heat.[5]

For technical (outlined in a section below) and historical reasons, the three are each associated with different reactor types. U-235 is the world's primary nuclear fuel and is usually used in light water reactors. U-238/Pu-239 has found the most use in liquid sodium fast breeder reactors. Th-232/U-233 is best suited to molten salt reactors (MSR).[3]

Alvin M. Weinberg pioneered the use of the MSR at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Aircraft Reactor Experiment in 1954 and Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment from 1965 to 1969 both used liquid fluoride salts; the latter notably demonstrated the use of U-233 as a fuel source.[6] Unfortunately for MSR research, Weinberg was fired and the MSR program closed down in the early 1970s,[7] after which research stagnated in the United States.[8][9]

Sorensen-related

Thorium in India (map)
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For Occurrence of thorium based on File:India-locator-map-thorium2012.svg updated with [1]

 
India's thorium is mostly located in a contiguous belt of eastern coastal states as placer sands. 2016 monazite reserve estimates:[10]
  Andhra Pradesh (31%)
  Tamil Nadu (21%), and Odisha (20%)
  Kerala (16%), and West Bengal (10%)
  Jharkhand (2%)
Selected Pictures I've Taken
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RFID chip
 
Sisyrinchium montanum
References
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  1. ^ UP (29 September 1946). "Atomic Energy 'Secret' Put into Language That Public Can Understand". Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  2. ^ UP (21 October 1946). "Third Nuclear Source Bared". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  3. ^ a b Hargraves, Robert; Moir, Ralph (2010). "Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors" (PDF). American Scientist. 98 (4): 304–313. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Synthesis of heavy elements
  5. ^ The KamLAND Collaboration (2011-07-17). "Partial radiogenic heat model for Earth revealed by geoneutrino measurements". Nature Geoscience. 4: 647–651. doi:10.1038/ngeo1205.
  6. ^ Rosenthal, M.; Briggs, R.; Haubenreich, P., Molten-Salt Reactor Program: Semiannual Progress Report for Period Ending August 31, 1971 (PDF), vol. ORNL-4728, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  7. ^ H. G. MacPherson (1985-08-01). "The Molten Salt Reactor Adventure". Nuclear Science and Engineering. 90: 374–380.
  8. ^ Weinberg, Alvin (1997). The First Nuclear Era: The Life and Times of a Technological Fixer. Springer. ISBN 978-1563963582. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  9. ^ "ORNL: THE FIRST 50 YEARS--CHAPTER 6: RESPONDING TO SOCIAL NEEDS". Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  10. ^ "RESERVES OF URANIUM AND THORIUM" (PDF). Department of Atomic Energy (India). 30 November 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.