View source for Thorium fuel cycle

[[Category:Done 2015-09-06]]
[[File:ThoriumFuelCycle.gif|thumb|Left|upright=2.0|Figure 1: Thorium's path to uranium-233 <ref> (2014, Mar. 26). ''N^4: Nuclear Technology Basics: Part 2 Thorium Fuel Cycles'' [Online]. Available: http://neurovoresnuclearnetworknews.blogspot.ca/2010/12/nuclear-technology-basics-part-2.html </ref>]]

<onlyinclude>The '''thorium fuel cycle''' is the path that [[thorium]] [[Transmutation|transmutes]] through from [[fertile]] source fuel to [[uranium]] fuel ready for [[fission]].</onlyinclude> Th-232 absorbs a [[neutron]], [[transmutation|transmuting]] it into Th-233. Th-233 [[beta decay]]s to Pa-233 and finally undergoes a second beta minus decay to become U-233. This is the one way of turning natural and abundant Th-232 into something fissionable. Since U-233 is not naturally found but makes an ideal [[nuclear reactor]] fuel, it is a much sought-after fuel cycle.  This fuel cycle is of extreme importance to [[molten salt reactor]]s, as most of the proposed reactors could use the thorium fuel cycle.

==Applications==
The thorium fuel cycle is important in the context of [[nuclear fission]], as it is one of the ways that could supply [[nuclear reactor]]s with fuel, although as of this writing it has not yet been done commercially. Th-232 can be used as a fertile fuel in many reactor types, including [[CANDU reactor]]s and many types of [[molten salt reactor]]s. A [[fertile]] fuel is a [[fuel]] that must absorb a [[neutron]] in order to become a [[fissile]] fuel. Fissile fuels are nuclear fuels that upon the absorption of a neutron undergo fission and release [[energy]]. In this situation the fissile fuel, which is the fuel powering the reactor, is U-233.<ref>B. Hyland et. al, “Homogeneous Thorium Fuel Cycles in CANDU Reactors,” in ''Proc. GLOBAL Congr.'', Paris, 2009, p. 7.</ref>

==References==
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