Thorium - Revision history

Apm: /* Related / Chemical element

2021-06-13T20:22:29Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:22, 13 June 2021
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	* New results from measurements on natural neutrino fluxes seem to indicate that most of the thorium in Earth is concentrated in the crust and has not sunk down towards the earth's center (as one might suspect due to thorium being a heavy element) {{wikitodo\|add reference}} (Does this have to do with its chemical properties? Electropositivity? Interaction with oxygen?). Metallic meteorites (when stemming from a smashed and segregated proto-planetary seed) seem to confirm that with their composition. This may be bad news for mining of metallic asteroids for nuclear fuel.		* New results from measurements on natural neutrino fluxes seem to indicate that most of the thorium in Earth is concentrated in the crust and has not sunk down towards the earth's center (as one might suspect due to thorium being a heavy element) {{wikitodo\|add reference}} (Does this have to do with its chemical properties? Electropositivity? Interaction with oxygen?). Metallic meteorites (when stemming from a smashed and segregated proto-planetary seed) seem to confirm that with their composition. This may be bad news for mining of metallic asteroids for nuclear fuel.

			== Related ==

			* [[Chemical element]]
	[[Category:Chemical element]]		[[Category:Chemical element]]

Apm: added section == Occurrence ==

2018-08-01T15:01:39Z

added section == Occurrence ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:01, 1 August 2018
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	That means if exposed to neutrons of the right kind of energy it can be bred (transmuted) to fissile material.		That means if exposed to neutrons of the right kind of energy it can be bred (transmuted) to fissile material.
	See: [[APM and nuclear technology]]		See: [[APM and nuclear technology]]

			== Occurrence ==

			* New results from measurements on natural neutrino fluxes seem to indicate that most of the thorium in Earth is concentrated in the crust and has not sunk down towards the earth's center (as one might suspect due to thorium being a heavy element) {{wikitodo\|add reference}} (Does this have to do with its chemical properties? Electropositivity? Interaction with oxygen?). Metallic meteorites (when stemming from a smashed and segregated proto-planetary seed) seem to confirm that with their composition. This may be bad news for mining of metallic asteroids for nuclear fuel.

	[[Category:Chemical element]]		[[Category:Chemical element]]

Apm: added to Category:Chemical element

2016-12-03T18:49:33Z

added to Category:Chemical element

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:49, 3 December 2016
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	That means if exposed to neutrons of the right kind of energy it can be bred (transmuted) to fissile material.		That means if exposed to neutrons of the right kind of energy it can be bred (transmuted) to fissile material.
	See: [[APM and nuclear technology]]		See: [[APM and nuclear technology]]

			[[Category:Chemical element]]

Apm: /* Safety depends strongly on the "packaging" on all size scales */ relativated unbased claims

2016-11-27T17:20:46Z

Safety depends strongly on the "packaging" on all size scales: relativated unbased claims

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:20, 27 November 2016
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	Vitrification [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrification] of those massive amounts of mining remnant thorium laden material is currently not done presumably because of expensive equipment and high energy requirement.		Vitrification [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrification] of those massive amounts of mining remnant thorium laden material is currently not done presumably because of expensive equipment and high energy requirement.
	With advanced atomically precise technology [[energy]] should become much more cheap and maybe vitrification can be done non-thermally.		With advanced atomically precise technology [[energy]] should become much more cheap and maybe vitrification can be done non-thermally.
	Non thermal vitrification ~~involves~~ [[atomically precise disassembly]] which is nontrivial and not expectable early on.		Non thermal vitrification may involve [[atomically precise disassembly]] {{todo\|Is chemical preperatory dissolving possibe?}} which is nontrivial and not expectable early on.

	See: [[mobility prevention guideline]]		See: [[mobility prevention guideline]]

	In short nature provided safety by "packaging" the thorium in big rocks of the mineral monazite. If we do similar we can be as safe as nature. <br> Related: [[diamondoid\|diamondoidivity]] and [[machine phase]]		In short nature provided safety by "packaging" the thorium in big rocks of the mineral monazite. If we do similar we can be as safe as nature. <br> Related: [[diamondoid\|diamondoidivity]] and [[machine phase]]

	== Thorium as today's nuclear waste ==		== Thorium as today's nuclear waste ==

Apm: basic article

2016-10-22T11:34:18Z

basic article

New page

{{Stub}}

Thorium is the most abundant radioactive element.<br>
It occurs as a byproduct of rare earth mining in great volume. A good fraction of the mined material there is Thorium. These are mountains of radioactive thorium not just a few thousand barrels. This thorium has not ever seen a reactor core. Thus it is not as radioactive as high level nuclear waste (except in a few natural nuclear reactor sites - yes they exist). But still it this thorium is radioactive.

Putting the "waste" thorium back into the ground where it came from creates a worse situation than before.
The fact that the amount of the radioactive material is a little less and the level of radioactive material is a little higher is not so much of a problem. The real problem is that today (2016) the mining waste usually is in a fine grained powdery form {{todo|check facts in detail}} which is (unlike the original monazite rock) suszeptible to ground water washout. If the mining remnants are dumped into an attle heap (open air mining dump) winds may carry away thorium laden dust.

== Safety depends strongly on the "packaging" on all size scales ==

Historically Thorium oxide glass [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_dioxide thorium dioxide] has been used for lenses in camera optics (e.g. olympus lenses turning yellow due to radiation damage) There the thorium it is pretty safe since it can't disperse.
Vitrification [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrification] of those massive amounts of mining remnant thorium laden material is currently not done presumably because of expensive equipment and high energy requirement.
With advanced atomically precise technology [[energy]] should become much more cheap and maybe vitrification can be done non-thermally.
Non thermal vitrification involves [[atomically precise disassembly]] which is nontrivial and not expectable early on.

See: [[mobility prevention guideline]]

In short nature provided safety by "packaging" the thorium in big rocks of the mineral monazite. If we do similar we can be as safe as nature. <br> Related: [[diamondoid|diamondoidivity]] and [[machine phase]]

== Thorium as today's nuclear waste ==

Thorium is a main component of today's radioactive waste.
It still carries the biggest part of valuable energy to its grave.

== Thorium as tomorrow's resource ==

Thorium is a fertile nuclear fuel material.
That means if exposed to neutrons of the right kind of energy it can be bred (transmuted) to fissile material.
See: [[APM and nuclear technology]]

Thorium - Revision history

Apm: /* Related */ * Chemical element

Apm: added section == Occurrence ==

Apm: added to Category:Chemical element

Apm: /* Safety depends strongly on the "packaging" on all size scales */ relativated unbased claims

Apm: basic article

Apm: /* Related / Chemical element