There are a variety of nuclear fuels currently being used in commercial nuclear power reactors. The most common is enriched uranium but unenriched uranium and mixtures of plutonium and uranium are also used for fuel. Now scientists at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory have developed a new fuel called Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life, or ANEEL. ANEEL is a proprietary mixture of thorium and low-enriched uranium. James Conca at Forbes believes that it could be very useful if society decides that nuclear power is the only answer to climate change mitigation.
Thorium has been researched as a possible nuclear fuel for decades and thorium test reactors have been built. Thorium melts at a higher temperature and generates energy at a lower temperature when compared to uranium fuel. It is also more resistant to core meltdowns. Conca said, “The ANEEL fuel has a very high fuel burn-up rate[, which] means the fuel stays in the reactor longer and gets more energy out of the same amount of fuel. [It’s] prohibitively difficult to make into a weapon. [And] ANEEL fuel will reduce the waste by over 80% and end up with much less plutonium. Less spent fuel means less refueling, less cost, less fuel handling and less volume to dispose.”
Any thorium fuel must contain at least a small amount of fissile material because pure thorium is not fissile by itself. On the other hand, thorium is much more plentiful than uranium. It is found in high quantities in the kinds of developing energy markets where nuclear may really be needed in the future. India has a great deal of thorium and a great need for more electricity.
Conca said, “India itself has more Th than U, particularly as monazite sands, a reason they have been pursuing Th in nuclear reactors for decades.” He suggested that this could lead to a beneficial arrangement where India could export thorium to the U.S. to make ANEEL and then the ANEEL could be sent to India. Conca mentioned that there is an old nuclear reactor in India which is already able to burn ANEEL fuel. Conversion to ANEEL could lead to improved diplomacy in the global nuclear industry. Conca said, “Whenever the United States is involved in another country’s nuclear program, that country signs various agreements related to security, weapons nonproliferation and nuclear materials, including nuclear fuel.”
Idaho National Laboratory is working with Texas A&M University and a private startup named Clear Core Thorium Energy (CCTE) on the ANEEL project. CCTE has been working on plans to retrofit existing nuclear power reactors to burn ANEEL fuel. They hope to enter commercial production by 2024. Reactors do not have to shut down in order to be fueled with ANEEL. Conca said, “[I]n developing nations, the need is urgent. Most do not have the infrastructure to install natural gas, wind or solar. Additionally, many do not have sufficient topography and river flow for hydro. So it’s either coal or nuclear. If you care at all about the environment, then it better be nuclear.”