Sub-atomic gun. Why India wants 1 GeV particle accelerator for thorium

  • November 5, 2024
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Sub-atomic gun. Why India wants 1 GeV particle accelerator for thorium

Sub : Sci

Sec: Nuclear sector

Context:

  • The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in India is planning to build a high-powered 1 giga-electron volt (GeV) particle accelerator. This machine will help convert thorium, which is abundantly available in India, into nuclear fuel, aiding in the production of energy.

Particle Accelerator:

  • A particle accelerator is a device that uses subatomic particles (such as electrons, protons, and neutrons) to create effects like transforming thorium into uranium-233, a fissile material that can be used in nuclear reactors.
  • India already has multiple particle accelerators (cyclotrons and synchrotrons) but lacks any in the GeV range; current accelerators are around 30 mega electron-volt (MeV).
  • Particle accelerators can tap into India’s vast thorium reserves, enhancing energy security.

Pathways for Leveraging Thorium:

  1. Breeding Uranium-233:
    • By irradiating thorium in a fast-breeder reactor, uranium-233 can be produced.
    • This method aligns with India’s three-stage nuclear strategy, enabling surplus fissile material production for expanding nuclear power.
  2. High Burn-up Configuration:
    • Using thorium along with uranium in reactors to produce additional energy from in-situ fission of uranium-233.
    • An advanced approach under development, with Clean Core Thorium Energy creating a specialized fuel, ANEEL, which is being tested in the U.S.
  3. High-Energy Proton Accelerators:
    • The planned 1 GeV accelerator would create neutrons to breed uranium-233 from
    • The technology could be used in an “accelerator-driven subcritical reactor system” (ADSS) for efficient energy production.

Additional Planned Accelerators:

  • Second 1 GeV Accelerator: To create neutrons for scientific research, focusing on studying atomic structures (spallation neutron source).
  • Synchrotron Radiation Source: For generating X-rays or UV light, beneficial for various scientific experiments.

Global Significance

  • Building these 1 GeV accelerators will place India among an elite group of nations with advanced particle accelerator technology.

ANEEL Fuel:

  • The Chicago-based company Clean Core Thorium Energy, founded by Mehul Shah, has developed (and patented) a fuel, which is a mix of Thorium and Uranium of a certain level of enrichment, called HALEU (High Assay Low Enriched Uranium). Clean Core calls this concoction ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life) — named so to honour one of India’s foremost nuclear scientists, Dr Anil Kakodkar.
  • With this India can guarantee green energy security for the subcontinent by fast-tracking the use of Thorium in nuclear reactors.

Use of thorium in ANEEL fuel:

  • Thorium is a fertile material and not a fissile material.
  • This means it must be paired with Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239 to be used as fuel in a reactor.
  • As neutrons from these fissile materials bombard Thorium, it mutates into Uranium-233, which is also a fissile material.
  • So, to use the Thorium in India, you need sufficient stocks of Uranium-235 (which India has very little of), or Plutonium-239 (which is produced using Uranium-235).
  • So, to use a minimum of uranium and a maximum of thorium fuel, the company has developed the ANEEL fuel.

Uses of ANEEL fuel:

  • It can be used in the existing Pressurized Heavy-Water Reactors (PHWRs), an indigenous reactor system that is the workhorse of India’s nuclear fleet.
  • India has 18 PHWR reactors with a total capacity of 4,460 MW and is building ten more of 700 MW each.
  • India’s approach to Thorium utilisation has been to make a Thorium blanket around uranium or plutonium reactors so that as the reactor produces energy, it also converts thorium into uranium-233. However, ANEEL provides an easier and quicker alternative for the deployment of thorium leveraging imported HALEU.

Advantages:

  • The use of thorium in nuclear reactors reduces nuclear waste significantly.
  • ANEEL fuel lasts much longer and burns more efficiently.
  • The spent ANEEL fuel cannot be used for weapons.

Infrastructural challenges:

  • According to the World Nuclear Association, most of the current reactors run on uranium fuel enriched up to 5 percent Uranium-235.
  • HALEU is Uranium enriched to more than 5 per cent but less than 20 per cent.
  • It is needed for many of the advanced nuclear reactor designs under development.
  • HALEU is not yet widely available commercially. At present, only Russia and China have the infrastructure to produce HALEU at scale.

Thorium in India:

  • India has the world’s largest reserves of Thorium, estimated at 1.07 million tonnes, enough to last over a century. If India uses this Thorium, it can then produce enough green energy and easily turn net-zero by its target date of 2070.
  • Thorium is derived from minerals like monazite (containing 10% thoria and 0.3% urania) and thorianite.
  • Monazite sands, found widely on the Kerala coast, serve as the primary source of refined thorium.
  • Monazite is a reddish-brown phosphate mineral containing rare earth metals.
  • The state-wise resources of in situ monazite established by AMD as of September 2014 are as follows:

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