Uranium enrichment is getting underway this week at a facility in southern Ohio, a federally authorized demonstration project considered critical to produce the type of fuel needed for newer, more efficient nuclear reactors.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Centrus Energy Corp. will be producing the high-assay, low-enriched uranium at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, about 68 miles (109 kilometers) south of Columbus. That form of uranium contains far more of the isotope U-235 than is typically found in current nuclear reactor fuel.
Because 1) Thorium hasn’t been demonstrated in any effective way, 2) the vast majority of advanced reactor designs rely on U-235 for their neutronics, 3) thorium produces U-233 which is always contaminated with U-232 and is hot as hell and hard to work with, 4) we haven’t licensed a thorium cycle design and that’s wildly expensive, and makes no economic sense when we can separate U economically… Should I go on? Thorium is really only of interest for countries without U deposits and/or access to U.