Energy Related Materials: Tracking and Accounting

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Energy Related MaterialsTracking and Accounting

• Mr. Andrii Gritsevskyi,
• Energy System Analyst
• International Atomic Energy Agency

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What is all about?

• Some material (in many cases called erroneously
  fuels) could become substantial energy sources
  (uranium, thorium, H2 isotopes, etc.)?
• Or they could be used to transport energy by
  changing their (chemical) forms. They could be
  used in close-loop system with processes that not
  necessarily even qualified as conventional
  burning (e.g. Boron or Silicon, see attached
  papers)?

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Uranium, Plutonium and Thorium isotopes

• Also, formally speaking, ANY unstable isotopes
  could be potential sources of energy only few are
  capable to release substantial amount of energy
  and available in nature or could be produced in
  quantities necessary for commercial usage
• Any kind of calorific values are clearly
  inapplicable
• Well defined maximum amount of energy that could
  be obtained is not practical to use
• Tons of ore (that are common to report) not even
  a proxy of energy that could be obtained
  (technology dependent, could be reused, may
  bread other fuels)?
• Potentially released energy is much higher
  compare to the amount that could be handeled in a
  safely collected one

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Nuclear Reactors Classification by Use

• Electricity Power plants
• Propulsion Nuclear marine propulsion various
  proposed forms of rocket propulsion
• Other uses of heat Desalination Heat for
  domestic and industrial heating Hydrogen
  production for use in a hydrogen economy
• Reactors for transmutation of elements
• Breeder reactors. Fast breeder reactors are
  capable of enriching Uranium during the fission
  chain reaction (by converting fertile U-238 to
  Pu-239) which allows an operational fast reactor
  to generate more fissile material than it
  consumes. Thus, a breeder reactor, once running,
  can be re-fueled with natural or even depleted
  uranium.
• Creating various radioactive isotopes, such as
  americium for use in smoke detectors, and
  cobalt-60, molybdenum-99 and others, used for
  imaging and medical treatment.
• Production of materials for nuclear weapons such
  as weapons-grade plutonium
• Providing a source of neutron and positron
  radiation (e.g. Neutron activation analysis and
  Potassium-argon dating)
• Research reactors Typically reactors used for
  research and training, materials testing, or the
  production of radioisotopes for medicine and
  industry. These are much smaller than power
  reactors or those propelling ships, and many are
  on university campuses

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Research Reactors
Note EBR-I 100 kW(e), Obninsk 5 MW(e)?
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Nuclear fuel cycle
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Thorium utilization in PHWR, LMFBR and AHWR
closed fuel cycles in India
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The thorium chain
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Energy Carrier Concept

• What is it
• Why we should not view it as synthetic fuel
• Close Loop systems vs. classical open loop