Nuclear Physicist Reacts to Sabine Hossenfelder Small Nuclear Thorium Reactors are Coming to Europe
Check out Sabine Hossenfelder’s Channel – https://www.youtube.com/c/sabinehossenfelder
Full Original Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf4XahwtJUk
Thorium Reactor Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=148NI9j23Kg&t=16s
For Full uncut reactions, as well as supporting the channel, join my
Support page – https://ko-fi.com/elinacharatsidou
Join the friendly Nuclear subReddit to discuss nuclear energy, ask questions and share memes – r/friendlynuclearfamily
Instagram – @elinacharatsidou
TikTok – @elinacharatsidou
In this video, I react to Sabine Hossenfelder Good News: Small Nuclear Thorium Reactors are Coming to Europe video from the perspective of a nuclear physicist. I go through the Good News: Small Nuclear Thorium Reactors are Coming to Europe video of Sabine Hossenfelder and look through what is accurate information on Sabine Hossenfelder Good News: Small Nuclear Thorium Reactors are Coming to Europe video as a nuclear physicist and react to it.
Hope you like the video about Nuclear Physicist Reacts to Sabine Hossenfelder Small Nuclear Thorium Reactors are Coming to Europe
Don’t forget to like and subscribe!
What savine hossenfelder recently posted a video about small mod reactors coming to Europe but specifically thorium powered reactors that got my attention and here I am to react to this video and let you know all about my perspective as a nuclear physicist on it without further
Ado let’s get into it I already like from the thumbnail that usually people when they talk about Thorium reactors they put the thorium sign there because there isn’t really much to put in terms of pictures or designs or layouts you could put like a diagram or something but nothing really
Built to be used like this thumbnail says nuclear power yes please and uh sure I can agree to that uh however nuclear power yes please SL nuclear power by thorium is a whole another discussion we have had a video about Thorium powered reactors and their advantages and disadvantages in the past
So you can go check it out but uh let’s see what saine has to say phasing out nuclear power is the dumbest thing the Germans have ever done each well with that everybody can agree I really like
How she starts the video straight on by saying that the probably biggest mistake of Germany as a country was the fact that they just shut down all their power plants and stopped generating energy by nuclear energy and uh they didn’t really have the backup Solution on that and that was basically
The biggest problem because it’s not so much so as to if a country decides not to use nuclear power but they have a very good alternative or mix of energies that could supplement the same amount of power that they require or electricity that they require without the need of nuclear but when you
Don’t have that and you have a very dense energy source such as nuclear and you decide in a day to shut that down and then when you’re asked okay but what’s your alternative you don’t really have
One there’s a little bit problem over there so I’m glad that she calls out also her own country it couldn’t be the easiest thing to do but scientifically speaking politically speaking and logically speaking the decision was not the wisest when I say this on Twitter people come
And tell me that Hitler did a few things that were even dumber I disagree Hitler wasn’t dumb he was evil he knew full well what he was doing I’m not at all sure the current German government
Knows what it’s doing and that isn’t a good thing either the German opposition to nuclear power is especially curious as our next door neighbors the French and Dutch have no hesitation to use nuclear power to its full potential and especially France since this is the country in Europe
With the most uh use of nuclear power to produce electricity and neighboring that country even in terms of fearing a potential outlandish accident it would affect the neighboring country such as Germany nevertheless even if you are a country that doesn’t use nuclear power but is in need
Of energy and buys electricity from countries that produce electricity by nuclear power do you see the problem potential indeed companies in both countries recently teamed up to bring small thorium reactors to Europe let’s have a look at what’s new the news is that two companies Nara
Of France and thiz of the Netherlands have signed a partnership agreement to work on thorium fueled small nuclear reactor I’m quite curious as to why was the choice thorium reactors um it is of an interesting question to ask since if you remember the biggest kind of drawback with a thorium is
The fact that you can actually separate those isotopes that are used for proliferation reasons to make nuclear bombs so for a country that has nuclear weapons there is a potential or maybe an interest there but for countries that don’t I have a really hard time seeing how they will move
Forward with a reactor design as such with this kind of inherent feature since they don’t have a license or any way of proving that they will not use these separated Isotopes for other reasons thoron as the name indicates specializes in using thorum as nuclear fuel Nara is already working
On I don’t know this websites and companies so I really want to check the rizon climate change use salt as base for both Fuel and Co has sever benefits first recycling waste our reactor does become a waste burner the amount of waste it is quite interesting how this is
Uh always put forward as an advantage it is an advantage it’s just a little bit hard to grasp since the fuel is already molten there is no potential for corm since the fuel is already melted also the salt can handle very high temperatures at make it sa measures less
Costly than with traditional reactors lastly there’s no water used in the reactor this means past accidents resulting in the releas of radioactive materials are no longer possible so carbon free decarbonized energy n nuclear abandon affordable resourceful energy for all
Is a fch company okay also a fence company one that is De centralized and can be installed close to Industrial consumers and in remote areas okay this all makes sense and if both of these these companies are basically French then the potential of them developing thorium
Powered reactors is actually viable let’s see Netherlands have signed a partnership agreement to work on thorium fueled small nuclear reactors thoron as the name indicates specializes in using thorum as nuclear fuel Nara is already working on small nuclear reactors and they want to combine
Their technology with the thorium course from the Dutch in case you’re wondering what their logo is supposed to show that’s a reddish yes a reddish because as they explain on the website the reddish is a root vegetable that leaves no waste as the entire plant is edible so is is
Their way of showing that they will not leave any waste because they’re basically going to burn the waste from the nuclear industry that currently is producing it that’s that’s kind of cute I can get behind that the idea is that rather than building one huge and expensive nuclear plant at
Location you build smaller reactors that can then be transported to the place you want them so the difference between in size in terms of small modular reactors SMR and the ones we have been building so far the typical light water reactors is the fact that as Sabin also mentioned the
Light water reactors that were built so far have literally been built on the side that they were decided that the nuclear power plant will be so the building and everything is being built onsite the reactor vessel the building around it so it is a huge construction and it is several buildings
Big for it to feed all of these components and all of these parts that need for the reactor to work and produce electricity however the SMR small modular reactor it is quite big in a sense that it’s not really small is basically relative right is it’s small relatively to the reactors that we
Have been building so far but not small relatively to I don’t know H kitchen table so in that sense a small model reactor can still fit into a room like a quite big tall room and as saine says can
Be transported by a truck basically and it will be approximately around 1/3 of the power output of the light water reactors that we’re currently using and uh modular does mean made in the factory shipped around the board and installed this is a great Advantage because you don’t need
To even own the technology or know how to make these kind of reactors in order to use them you can basically buy them from companies and install them in countries that need them or in industries that require additional energy and reactors are still standing for the fact that these reactors
Will use energy by Fusion to produce power and consequent electricity and the like and the like small modular reactors have the potential to solve the two biggest problems of nuclear power at the moment which is that building nuclear power plants is expensive and it takes a long time though if
The small modular reactors will actually solve those problems only time will tell the so it’s a little bit of a tricky situation there as well because small modular reactors haven’t been built yet in a kind of streamline production process therefore when we start building small modular
Reactors it is estimated that they will cost more than the light water reactors we already kind of know how to build and there is some experience there but the idea with the smrs is that the more you build the cheaper they become basically like any other product when
You make the first one the first of the kind it will be expensive and there will be some back and forth in terms of fixing some stuff but once you have streamlined the process similarly to take aviation industry you know how to make a particular type of plane and then you just keep
Making it and it becomes cheaper and cheaper the least intervention you need to do in the process of fabrication two companies who have signed the new agreement say that they want to cater in particular to the industry where such a reactor wouldn’t be connected to the public electric
Grid you can also use the heat from the reactor directly rather than making electricity from it first which improves efficiency so there’s great flexibility like Sabine mentioned already with the small modular reactors and this is the fact that since they are small and uh kind of compact and
Flexible in terms of power output you can really install them in industries that are very energy demanding so you can help the industries produce more electricity for making whatever products or Services they are making and uh therefore not being so Reliant or heavily reliant on the grid
And on the other hand small mod reactors depending on what type of reactor it is can also be used for direct heating so it can be used for hydrogen production production of biof Fuel and this is mostly for the fact that the these reactors will run on higher temperatures than the light
Water reactors that we have so far but that is a little bit of a confusion because small modular reactor doesn’t necessarily mean that a small modular reactor can be a light Water Reactor as well it can be a reactor that doesn’t run at the temperature that’s high enough to be efficient to
Produce this hydrogen and biofuels and the like but if it is a small modular reactor coupled with a generation 4 design then this potential can be h and that is because to have higher temperatures you require coolant that is not water so for example in terms of lead cooled fast reactors
Then you would have an output temperature in the reactor of around 550° C and this is higher than the output temperature of a light Water Reactor therefore there the potential is possible so SMR
And Gen 4 sometimes is a little bit intermixed when we talk we assume that an SMR is a Gen 4 and vice versa it is not necessarily the case an SMR a small mod reactor can still be a light Water
Reactor just in a smaller size what they call an extra small nuclear reactor that will generate roughly 40 megawatt of electricity and they hope it’ll be done by 2030 Horizon is working on and the hope to be done in the span of the next few years it’s optimistic let’s see I haven’t heard
Much from Nara in terms of actually what comes after the research and the paperwork like in terms of actually starting to build something on a reactor with roughly 100 megaw that is targeted at larger industrial customers they want to have a pilot system ready before 2035 okay so Thon is
Aiming for a almost double in size in the range of small modular reactors or even smaller than that a little bit and uh they are aiming to have it ready by 2035 so a little bit of a less optimistic maybe
More realistic approach for them especially since they are aiming for a little bit of a bigger system my still kind of question throughout this video that I haven’t answered yet to myself is why use Thorium in a way that France has lots of uh nuclear spend nuclear fuel from its nuclear
Industry that it is using and reusing and creating the so-called MOX fuel mixed oxide fuel which is a uranium plutonium fuel that is being burned and kind of recycled in um reactors that they have
Or plan to plan to build so why make a whole new type of advanced reactor that might have its own kind of challenges instead of making a reactor that can potentially burn MOX fuel or I am still
A little bit confused as to where does thorum come into place with the Recycled fuel from the Frances nuclear industry let’s see almost all currently operating nuclear reactors run on uranium thorium has attracted attention in the past decades as an alternative nuclear fuel because an Earth’s
Crust it’s about three to four times more abundant than uranium it also can’t be as readily used for nuclear weapons they if you make some effort that’s still possible so saine mentioned that thorium cannot readily be used as for nuclear weapons even though with a little bit of effort
This is possible so this statement is correct and incorrect at the same time in a way that Thorium in itself is not interesting for nuclear weapons applications however a reactor fueled with thorium is the perfect kind of machine to create isotopes that can be used for nuclear weapons applications
So it’s kind of incorrect to separate the two and give thorium the advantage that is not interesting for proliferation even though knowing that the process with which the reactor that’s fueled by thorium operates quite literally creates nuclear weapons crate materials so I have to give to
Sabine of a little bit of a homework as to how thorium reactors work and uh maybe an additional statement that explains a little bit more instead of it can be possible it’s not just with a little
Bit of effort it can be possible it is actually very much likely possible doable and one of the biggest concerns of the nuclear industry as to why we haven’t implemented or heavily got interested and attention into thorium fuel the real advantage of thorum reactors is however
That they can use essentially the entire thorium not just a small fraction of it as it’s the case with the normal uranium reactors the downside is that since there’s currently no dedicated thoro mining it might go into short supply quickly so there are some commercial challenges ahead
The small nuclear thorium reactors work not with solid fuel rods but with the fuel dissolved into a liquid salt this is why they’re called molten salt reactors modern m M salt reactors as all new reactors come with passive safety features in the case of a loss of power the nuclear fuel will be
Automatically dumped into a place where it’ll cool rather than in earlier reactors go on to heat up and potentially cause the core to melt so this is the what we say the interesting or kind of funny
Sounding phrase of since the fuel is already molten a COR melt is not really a danger for this type of reactor so I guess in a way that if there is an accident that basically the fuel is
Being drawn somewhere else and freezes and becom solid and if it becomes solid it contains all of the radioactive materials it’s not really spread out it’s not there’s no gas coming out of it so in a way it’s really contained that said nuclear power is still dangerous and I fully understand
That many people are OPP so that said nuclear power is still dangerous okay maybe I should watch it and not com quickly boost to the technology because of the risk however but so what is the risk because we are in the small nuclear thorum reactors video and there was no risk proposed for
The fact that these reactors can produce nuclear weapons materials and they do if you operate them but then a big radioactivity sign and saying that but nuclear energy is still dangerous and I understand that people opposed to it but why what what is is the danger that we’re talking
About because the biggest danger is the accident maybe and you have already explained that the most serious accident that can happen in a molten salt reactor that runs on thorium fuel is the fact that
If there is some problem in the vessel then the fuel would just freeze so there is no really a danger there and the second is the spend nuclear Fuel and the fact that it will last for thousands and thousands of years and it will still be radioactive and dangerous and people might
Not like the idea of burying it on the ground and this solution basically solves that problem because it reuses the fuel from the industry and it burns all the thorium and it will last for so many years so giving all of these positive kind of advantages of these reactor types and concluding
With a sentence of but nuclear industry is still dangerous and I understand why people oppose it I don’t understand why you would say that because then it contradicts everything you just said in the previous six minutes of your video so it needs to be a little bit more context and not taken by
Default that ah but people might just not like it you know everything has risks and I think one also needs to take into account the risk of not using nuclear power because that means continuing to use
Other sources of energy which also have risks so that is the biggest kind of Thumbs Up I give to Sabine is the fact that when we always discuss about using nuclear power over Renewables or over another source and maybe we should use that instead of that the question is not if we should
Use nuclear power or not but the question is what should we use to phase out fossil fuel use so to phase out fossil fuels and stop producing emissions and basically contaminating and destroying the planet we need to use all the other energies that are friendlier to the environment
More sustainable renewable and the like and those are wind Hydro nuclear and everything else that doesn’t destroy the environment in a way that fossil fuels do so nuclear is part of that mix is a very strong um part of that mix is a very big player because it is the densest energy out
Of all of them so when we’re discussing the risks of using nuclear power we should also discuss the risks of not using it so that I agree with nuclear power technology has changed a lot in the past 50
Years and I really think Germany is missing the bus by not investing into it I agree that Germany is definitely missing out I was chairing a workshop uh recently in cars in Germany and uh there we were talking about communication tools on nuclear and nuclear research that uh the European
Commission and the joint Research Center can Implement in order to promote and talk a little bit about their nuclear research in Germany which was very nice and positive to see and I was invited to speak there and um propose some different ideas that they can use in order to
Attract a little bit more interest from different kinds of audience all the way from member states and uh countries of the European Union and to the public and the people that are interested or work
In the industry or just interested to learn about it so it was a really nice thing to see and that they are planning things like that and they are planning events like this and it is important for
Them to communicate the research in a way so I really do hope that Germany will change its perspective quite soon and uh realize the big mistake that everybody else have realized that they have made and take it back and start working on nuclear again so in case you’re from the German
Parliament thanks for watching see you tomorrow okay that was the video of Sabine on small modular thorium nuclear reactors that’s a mouthful and uh it was interesting to find out that these two countries are collaborating with each other from France it is quite as I said understandable uh pushing this kind of design
Because there is not really a limitation or so much so of a problem building these type of reactors however them being built in the Netherlands or in any other country that doesn’t have uh nuclear weapons then that would be a little bit tricky in terms of the the country
Or The Regulators accepting this type of reactor to be built there however for France it does sound like a very attractive and interesting solution in terms of research at least as it is in this stage
Right now cuz I’m assuming they have not started building anything yet and uh I’m glad to see that Sabine is bringing up nuclear news and uh just things that happening in the Forefront of uh the nuclear field for the people to get informed of that so except for some minor um misunderstandings
From Sabine side or maybe not explaining it uh the way that perhaps I would everything else was quite interesting and very informative even for me as well let me know what you think about this
Video down in the comments and if you want me to react to any other videos of a nuclear related context don’t forget to like And subscribe and click on the Bell notification icon it’s been Elina your friendly nulear physicist and until next time see you soon and produce electricity
24 Comments
Is it rude to point out she gained a lot of weight? This isn't good for her health. Elina if you're reading this, get in shape while you stil can. It gets harder the more you get fat.
Pathetic attempt to ride on Sabine's popularity. I did not learn ANYTHING new from this video. It was clear after less than a minute, but I suffered through it just to make sure that I can state this with confidence. Don't waste your time.
yes they had a back up plan, but it was russian oil,,,,,….lolololol
It looks so atractive. None of you say anything about energy price from this? And how easy is it to adjust the power up and down according to demand? But I really hope fusjon beet them. Fusion is "just" 5 years away
The core of the problem is the amount of long life Uranium waste that is produced and the danger of catastrophic accidents with nuclear power based on the current technology. Molten Thorium salt reactors are inherently safer. Trouble is it doesn't produce weapon grade uranium.
3:07 I see the problem that Germany has to save France every time again when many of its old reactors needs maintenance like in 2022. Maybe this is why France is increasing renewables.
Elina, can you compare a molten salt design with the breeder reactor currently built in Siberia by RosAtom? Lead is not corrosive, and salts are, which can reduce the need for very special alloys and worries about durability (e.g. stainless steel is not immune to corrosion, although there are different grades. Moreover, RosAtom has the first model under construction already.
As a member of the public, who has to breathe the air, here is my opinion on nuclear power: 3 mile island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Daihachi. That just about sums it up.
How is a SMR different from the reactors on nuclear powered vessels such as submarines, aircraft carriers etc?
They shut down nuclear power to make billions on the fake solutions solar, wind and biomass = cut down trees (reduce CO2 absoption) and burn them to make electricity with extra health damage=pollution and more CO2 per kWh than anything else.
The dumbest mistake Germany ever made? Really??
The problem with Germany is, that someone destroys the backbone of natural gas imports, namely the NordStream pipelines, and Germany does not investigate this incident.
🤔 At 9:45 using the aviation industry as an example where production streamlining occurred is pretty scary when considering the debacle of Boeing. ✈️🚪💥🤯
Regardless of the science and engineering, regardless of the safety methods, there are many countries where there is ZERO chance of building these reactors other than at existing sites for nuclear power stations. The political pressure and NIMBYism will prevent them being built.
You are very misinformed on certain points. France's park is close to it's end, deprecating rapidly and not renewed, going toward the same finality as Germany. The real advancement in Thorium is Chinese. We know who will dominate this market In 2035. You seem to ignore the advantages that makes the world think about of thorium : safety is the main one, sufficient in itself, the molten salts falls down onto a reservoir and all reaction is stopped. No Fukushima, no Chernobyl.
Sabine’s sense of humor is fantastic 😂
Isn’t it the moral equivalent of discussing what gas was best in the death camps?
As someone who has concerns about nuclear power you're only taking a few factors into account with the risk of malfunctions. Governments that would sell materials for profit let's not pretend that this stuff doesn't fall into the hands of bad people intentionally. We as a race are not ready for such responsibility as we can't even sustain a working government in the US. Humans need to go back to the stone age and grow up more before using technology this powerful.
Actually the 1st SMR in Europe is being built in Romania. The construction already began recently.
I do believe that this is the next step humanity can take towards energy production. Kind of a fission energy 2.0. This can enable us to continue towards the commercial development of fusion power .is those have less risk factors .😎
Germany is going full Green New Deal aka WEF insanity.
Nuclear is not a good compliment to renewables as nuclear needs a high capacity factor to be remotely viable…
Since when is energy density of the fuel relevant?
By that measure solar is the most viable as the fuel, photons, have infinite energy density.
From 13 years ago, the video at the link explains why we did not keep going with thorium back around 1970. The final straw was that Nixon ordered the research shut down, in order to build breeder reactors in his old S California House district. That other effort failed in the end. Kirk Sorenson, narrating this video, was the nuclear engineer who discovered the reference book about their MSR (Molten Salt Reactor) experiment, and he was allowed to publish its pages online, after the powers that be said the US was going to do nothing with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbyr7jZOllI