Perhaps the single most important safety aspect of a nuclear reactor is the temperature coefficient of reactivity. This value describes how the reactor will react to an increase or a decrease in reactor temperature. If the coefficient is positive, then an increase in core temperature will cause an increase in reactivity, which will lead the […]
LFTR Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor Development of an Innovative Thorium Reactor The LFTR is an innovative design for a thermal breeder reactor that was developed from the 1950s through the 1970s at ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The reactor utilized a fluid-fuel form, with uranium and thorium fluoride salts dissolved in […]
In the late 1940s, excitement and enthusiasm about all things “atomic” was common among military planners. Having “harnessed” the energy of the atom for nuclear weapons, naturally they began to imagine how this energy could be used to drive other military activities. About this time a young Navy captain, Hyman Rickover, was beginning to think […]