THORCON SAFETY FEATURES
Passive safety dependent only on materials properties and physics, not electronic or electrical safety-critical systems or valves.
Decay heat cooling one active and two passive systems.
Stable increasing fission raises temperature, thus decreasing moderation, increasing neutron absorption by U-238, expanding structural materials, so lowering fission rate.
Containment all radioactive fuel contained within primary loop, contained within Can, contained within cooling silo, contained in silo hall.
Radioactivity barriers minimum 3 barriers between radioactive materials and environment.
Silo cooling wall continuous recirculation of radiantly heated cooling water to small surface pond; no valves to operate to provide decay heat cooling after shutdown.
Fuse valve fuel salt overheat would melt salt plug below reactor vessel, draining fuel salt to unmoderated drain tank where fission impossible.
Can rupture of primary loop would contain spilled fuel salt within Can, thence to drain tank.
Walkaway safe abandoned plant will self-cool for 1.5 years before attention required.
Aircraft strike withstands vertical impact of 777 aircraft nine-ton engines.
Underground ThorConLand fission plant entirely underground; reactor 15 m underground, in building with 1 m concrete walls sandwiched between two 25 mm steel plates.
Ship collision ThorConIsle protected by breakwater; hull wall of 3 m of concrete sandwiched between two 25 mm steel plates and silo also protects Can containing radioactive materials.
Earthquake withstands 0.8 peak ground acceleration.
Tsunami waves pass over strong, sealed, underground steam generation fission plant, which will not float if submerged.
Fission products the most environmentally troublesome radioactive fission products, including Sr-90 and Cs‑137, are chemically bound to the fuel salt.
Tritium captured by getters in inert gas in power module hall and secondary heat exchanger cell; tritium penetrating heat exchangers captured by oxidation in solar salt loop.
Sabotage operators can not defeat safety functions; reactivity increases limited by flow orifices and slow motors; no tamperable safety-critical electrical, electronic, nor computer systems.
Weapons proliferation all fissile material in inaccessible high-radiation areas; uranium always low-enriched; plutonium always diluted with thorium, in fuel salt with hazardous fission products.