https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyr7jZOllI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4
Political issues aside thorium could be great for railroads. The energy could be used as a way of powering trains whether it be by wired distribution or by equipping trains with nuclear reactors. Railway electrical lines could be used for selling and distributing such energy.
Have looked into this, now, for many years. We had a recent diversion (on the hydrogen-powered locomotive) into this territory.
BREEDER reactors on a locomotive – pointless. (Without breeding, I consider thorium cycle somewhat retarded in its benefits). Isotope characteristics associated with thorium cycle – deal-breaker for any sane engineer, let alone politician. And note how heavily the cycle relies on practical, assured fuel recycling…
The economics have changed somewhat regarding fusion powerplants since the analyses proving its best-case Bekenstein bounds were not profitable, even when not net of unanticipated decommissioning cost. So that may, maybe, perhaps, be a ‘better’ option for power generation, although admittedly It’s still something of a crapshoot. Not for use on locomotives either, though.
The only reason to use railroad ‘electrical lines’ (other than where existing lines already carry commercial power, as in some locations on the ex-PRR cat system, for example) would be if regenerative braking or distributed power were to be provided that way. You would almost certainly not, for example, oversize the substation feeders just to run power end-to-end through them (for a variety of potential (no pun intended) reasons. You would CERTAINLY not run additional current through the catenary for public purposes, for reasons too obvious to mention. (I will leave DC options out of the question, as no method of proper DCHV transmission would in my opinion be suitable for rail transportation!
People seem to think the thorium cycle is clean, and then also think it’s proliferation-proof for some magic reason. This is doublethink, and should be regarded as such wherever you encounter it.
RME
A “Thorium” breeder requires on-line chemical separation to remove the neutron poisons in the fission products - not something that I would like in a locomotive. I don’t think the required shielding for the reactor and chemical separation is something that will comfortably fit within the loading gauge available on most railroads, with neutrons from the reactor being the most troublesome.
[added note: All of the Thorium reactor designs I’ve seen, which includes descriptions in Nuclear Energy Conversion by M. M. El-Wakil, and Introduction to Nuclear Engineering by John R. Lamarsh, make use of a graphite moderator, which means the core will not be compact. The only reasonable method for using “Thorium power” on railroads is with some form of electrification, most likely 25/50kV commercial frequency AC or perhaps an advanced battery locomotive (a lot of work still needs to be done before battery locomotives become practical).]
The thorium cycle is “clean” in the sense that relatively low levels of transuranics get produced, meaning that there is little waste product with 1,000+ year half-lifes. “Proliferation resistance” comes from significant quantities of 232U being produced by (n,2n) recations with either 233Pa or 233U. 232U by itself isn’t al that bad, but the decay daughter products are strong ga
http://brainmindinstrev.blogspot.com/2012/03/project-x-12-borsts-imaginary-nuclear.html
http://rt.com/news/sci-tech/revolutionary-locomotive-russia-atomic/
Still waiting for the train to come in.
I would imagine that might work with a few conditions. First, they would need new rails, with magnets in them to hold them in curves. Also a new type of brakes with titanium pads and a maple syrup type of fluid to activate them.
I would never want to run a locomotive powered by a reactor. The risk of derailing a reactor alone is absolutely frightening. You think railroads have problems with NIMBYs now,sheesh…
I think the idea is to build the reactor on a coastal fault line.
Randy
Do we at least get tinfoil to protect, um, my 2 personal brakemen?
I’d think it would take more than tinfoil…
I think the best solution for Thorium is centralized power plant and using wires to distribute it. As For nimbys the technology is safe. I recommend creating a demo the technology.