Word: thorium
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...assure themselves of reactor fuel, the British are exploring the potential of thorium, an abundant metal once used in gaslamp mantles, as a replacement for uranium, which Britain must get at high cost from the U.S. While its atom cannot split like uranium, thorium can be converted by nuclear bombardment into fissionable U-233. In a breeder reactor seeded with plutonium or U-235, thorium could efficiently produce new fuel with compound interest. Moreover, the British announced, they are already operating a small, experimental "one-for-one" breeder reactor that produces one new neutron fuel for every neutron it consumes...
...three-stage, $8,400,000 reactor-building program. In stage 1: ten to 20 reactors will annually produce several tons of plutonium at relatively low cost, form the basis for stage 2: concentrating on six or seven types of power reactors, including a gas-cooled model, which may use thorium and plutonium. Stage 3: fast reactors and a host of experimental models. Said Reactor Chief Dunworth: "We're endeavoring not to restrict our ideas too much...
...produce 5,000 kw. of electricity, plus plutonium. In 30 months' time a second, more profitable plant will go to work, with a net production of 20,000 kw. (enough electricity for a city the size of Tallahassee, Fla.)-Moreover, the French have found an "important source" of thorium in Madagascar, are studying nuclear propulsion for ships...
...were in the nuclear picture. They were uranium 235 and plutonium, both of which are fissionable, i.e., the addition of a single neutron to the atomic nucleus splits the nucleus, with a vast release of energy. Later a third nuclear ingredient, fissionable U-233, was made out of nonfissionable thorium...
...heat of the new-style explosion is more important than the H-bomb itself. The hotter the reaction, the faster atomic particles move. In the hottest reactions they may move at such speed that they shatter normally stable atoms. If these atoms are large ones, e.g., U-238 or thorium, their splitting releases still more energy. This process, now called thermofission, was described in the 1945 Smyth Report...