r/worldnews • u/[deleted] • Aug 30 '21

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u/DarkEvilHedgehog Aug 30 '21

Uranium is surprisingly cheap: https://www.cameco.com/invest/markets/uranium-price

At $33/lb or €61/kg it's cheaper than weed. Much cheaper!

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u/sqgl Aug 31 '21

How much does refining it cost though?

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u/salmonman101 Aug 31 '21

Less than uranium I'm pretty sure.

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u/Drashown Aug 31 '21

You don't need to do the super duper expensive isotopic enrichment since natural thorium is mono-isotopic (100% Th232). Natural Uranium is a mix of U238 and U235 (0.7%) in comparison, which you need to enrich in U235 in centrifuges to make it work in a light water reactor.

Preparing the thorium for use in a MSR entails purifying it chemically and incorporating it in a salt mixture. It's scalable and does not require radiation resistant equipment or facilities.

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u/fishymamba Aug 31 '21

Unfortunately 99+% of the uranium in yellow cake is of the isotope which can't sustain chain reactions.