Attachment 2

Solving Important Problems with Thorium Reactors

Kirk Sorensen Flibe Energy March 2, 2016 Our industrial civilization expects reliable, affordable energy. The energies that bind the atomic nucleus (nuclear energy) are approximately two million times greater than the energies that bind the atomic electrons (chemical energy). Three Nuclear Options Possible Nuclear Fuels

Natural Thorium Natural Uranium 100% thorium-232 99.3% uranium-238 0.7% uranium-235

Only a small fraction of natural uranium is ﬁssile. Most uranium and all thorium is "fertile" and can be converted to ﬁssile material through neutron absorption.

Reducing Long-Lived Waste

I Today’s approach to nuclear energy consumes only a small amount of the energy content of uranium while producing "transuranic" nuclides that complicate long-term waste disposal. I Using thorium/U-233 in a liquid-fueled reactor can more nearly approach the ideal of a ﬁssion-product-only waste stream that reaches the same radioactivity as uranium ore in 300 years. Today’s nuclear fuel is fabricated with extraordinary precision, like a ﬁne watch.

But it is that precision that makes it difﬁcult to recycle and to refabricate. A new approach is needed that is more versatile and less expensive. Fluoride salts are safe and versatile Chemically stable in air and water

Unpressurized liquid with 1000◦C range of temperature LiF-BeF2 ﬂuoride salt is an excellent carrier for uranium (UF4) nuclear fuel. Liquid fuels enhance safety options

The reactor is equipped with a "freeze plug"—an open line where a frozen plug of salt is blocking the ﬂow. The plug is kept frozen by an external cooling fan.

In the event of total loss of power, the freeze plug melts and the core salt drains into a passively cooled conﬁguration where nuclear ﬁssion and meltdown are not possible. The US Nuclear Retirement "Cliff"

The challenge will soon grow much worse. DOE sees Industry Leading Future Nuclear

I "In the United States, it is the responsibility of industry to design, construct, and operate commercial nuclear power plants." (pg 22) I "It is ultimately industry’s decision which commercial technologies will be deployed. The federal role falls more squarely in the realm of R&D." (pg 16) I "The decision to deploy nuclear energy systems is made by industry and the private sector in market-based economies." (pg 45) Modular construction of nuclear reactors in a factory environment has become increasingly desirable to reduce uncertainties about costs and quality.

Liquid-ﬂuoride reactors, with their low-pressure reactor vessels, are particularly suitable to modular construction in a factory and delivery to a power generation site. Flibe Energy was formed in order to develop liquid-ﬂuoride reactor technology and to supply the world with affordable and sustainable energy, water and fuel. Thorium Reactor Technology

Historical Concepts Modern Designs

Hardware Demonstrations Important materials for this project (thorium and beryllium) are found in Idaho and Utah. An abundance of advanced manufacturing opportunities exist for this technology. Development Principles

Advanced nuclear has been attempted many times before and has not been commercialized. What makes this approach different?

I Thorium reactors can produce inexpensive electricity essentially indeﬁnitely, but

I Any reactor technology, conventional or advanced, will ﬁnd it difﬁcult to offer attractive returns to risk investors at current electrical prices, so

I Production of medicines from the reactor can pay for the considerable costs of development and will attract public support Development Strategy

I 2016: Research reactor experiment (50 kWt)

I test fuel and blanket salt samples

I potentially extract medical isotopes

I 2020: Research and test reactor (10 MWt)

I extract and sell medical isotopes

I 2024: Demonstration reactor (100 MWt)

I 2027: Prototype utility reactor (1000 MWt) Efﬁcient Generation of Medical Radioisotopes Using Thorium Molten-Salt Technology

Kirk Sorensen Flibe Energy March 2, 2016 Use of Tc-99m simpliﬁes medical diagnostics Medical procedures using Tc-99m

Tc-99m, derived from Mo-99, dominates world medical radioisotope use.

Xe-133 Tl-201 I-123

F-18

In-111 I-131

Tc-99m is predominantly used in cardiac scans, bone scans, and gall-bladder scans.

This industry has a value of

Tc-99m approximately $2 billion per annum. Examples of how Tc-99m is used for medical imaging

Kit Name Imaging Procedure

Technetium Tc-99m Medronate (MDP) Bone Scan Technetium Tc-99m Albumin Aggregated (MAA) Lung Perfusion Technetium Tc-99m Pentetate (DTPA) Kidney Scan and Function Technetium Tc-99m Sulfur Colloid Liver Scan Sentinel Lymph Node Localization Technetium Tc-99m Sestamibi Cardiac Perfusion Technetium Tc-99m Exametazime Brain Perfusion Technetium Tc-99m Mebrofenin Gall Bladder Function Technetium Tc-99m Etidronate Bone Scan Technetium Tc-99m Disofenin Gall Bladder Function Technetium Tc-99m Succimer (DMSA) Kidney Scan and Function Technetium Tc-99m Tetrofosmin Cardiac Perfusion Technetium Tc-99m Bicisate Brain Perfusion Technetium Tc-99m Red Blood Cell Blood Pool Imaging Technetium Tc-99m Sodium Pertechnetate Thyroid, Salivary Gland, Meckel’s Scan Technetium Tc-99m Lidofenin Gall Bladder Function Technetium Tc-99m Mertiatide (MAG3) Kidney Scan and Function Technetium Tc-99m Oxidronate (HDP) Bone Scan

a MAA = methacrylic acid, MDP = methylene diphosphonate, DTPA = diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid, DMSA = dimercaptosuccinic acid, MAG3 = mercapto acetyl triglycine, HDP = hydroxymethylene diphosphonate. b Extracted from the Food and Drug Administration approved pharmaceutical list, 2008. Medical Isotope Use

Production in Research Reactors Puriﬁcation Packaging

Injection into Rapid Results Patient

Affordable Scanning Existing Mo-99 production reactors are old

National Research Universal (NRU) High Flux Reactor (HFR), reactor, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada Petten, Netherlands started up with Sputnik (1957) started up with Yuri Gagarin (1961) Reactors and Mo-99 supply chains

Research reactors producing molybdenum-99 exist around the world but the largest are in Netherlands and Canada, with the Canadian reactor shutting down in 2018. Large power reactors make vast amounts of Mo-99

...which unfortunately due to high pressure is utterly inaccessible... operation and the use of solid nuclear fuel. Today’s Medical Isotope Production Approach Short exposure (~6 days) in research reactor

Solid targets of highly-enriched uranium — expensive Complicated chemical — risky processing — supply cutoff — 97% wasted — residue causes international concern An Innovative Solution to the Problem Liquid thorium ﬂuoride target loaded into reactor Liquid thorium fuel, ﬂux, only desired isotope products removed. impervious to radiation damage, loaded in a graphite crucible as an isotope generator.

Simpliﬁed chemical processing — no fuel wasted — no U or Pu

Images courtesy NRG. Molybdenum-99 is a fairly common ﬁssion product

Strontium-90

Molybdenum-99 Lanthanides

Krypton Xenon

Promethium- 147 79 81 83 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 101 103 105 107 109 111 113 115 117 119 121 123 125 127 129 131 133 135 137 139 141 143 145 147 149 151 153 155

About 5% of the ﬁssion reactions in uranium-233 generate molybdenum-99. Small MSR would produce globally-signiﬁcant Mo99

Modeling parameters:

I 10.5 kCi/d/MWt Mo99 generation rate

I 2.0 MW (thermal) reactor

I molybdenum removal efﬁciency of 90%

I 3 day transport delay (pessimistic)

I 713,000 6-day Ci/yr Mo99 production

I 6-day Ci Mo99 price range: $225 - $1000

Financial results:

I Mo99 revenue of $160 to $713M/yr Global implications:

I 1.1x global Mo99 consumption in 2006 North American Competition for 99Mo Production

235 99 I U(n, f ) Mo in solid uranium targets (LEU or HEU)

I NorthWest Medical Isotopes, Corvallis, Oregon I Coqui Pharmaceuticals, Coral Gables, Florida I Eden Radioisotopes, Albuquerque, New Mexico I General Atomics, San Diego, California 98 99 I Mo (n, γ) Mo in solid molybdenum targets

I NorthStar Medical Isotopes, Madison, Wisconsin I GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Wilmington, North Carolina 3 4 I H(d, n) He in subcritical aqueous uranium solution

I SHINE Medical Technologies, Monona, Wisconsin 100 − 99 I Mo (e → γ, n) Mo in solid molybdenum target

I NorthStar Medical Isotopes, Madison, Wisconsin 100 99m I Mo (p, 2n) Tc in solid molybdenum target

I TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia Current Status and Accomplishments

I Letter-of-intent with NRC for Mo99 production

I Joined DOE Uranium Lease and Take-Back Program

I Completed EPRI-funded study

I Pending MOU with NRG (Netherlands reactor operator)

I Key university research relationships being ﬁnalized Fighting Cancer with Alpha-Emitting Bismuth-213 Kirk Sorensen Flibe Energy March 2, 2016 Radiotherapy against cancer

When a radionuclide emits an alpha particle, it packs a lot of energy and slows down quickly, killing cells within two cell diameters. This makes it very effective in ﬁghting dispersed cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

I AML is a relatively rare cancer. I ~10,500 new cases each year in the US I stable incidence rate 1995-2005 I accounts for 1.2% of all cancer deaths in US I Incidence of AML increases with age I 63 is median age I 90% of all acute leukemias in adults, rare in children I male-to-female ratio of 4:3 I Complete remission is obtained in about 50-75% of newly diagnosed adults. I The length of remission depends on the prognostic features of the original leukemia. In general, all remissions will fail without additional consolidation therapy Nuclear Decay Chains, circa 1940

Uranium 238 234 235

4.47 245 704 Protactinium Gyr 234 kyr Myr 231

32.7 Thorium 232 228 234 230 231 kyr 227

14.1 1.91 75.4 18.7 Actinium Gyr 228 years kyr 227 days

21.7 Radium 228 224 226 years 223

3.62 1600 11.4 Francium days years 223 days

Radon 220 222 219

55.6 3.82 3.96 Astatine sec days sec

Polonium 216 212 218 214 210 215

0.144 0.3 3.05 0.165 138 1.77 Bismuth sec 212 μsec 209 min 214 msec 210 days msec 211

2.17 1.0 hr Lead 212 208 214 210 206 211 min 207

Thallium 208 207

Thorium (+0) (+1) Uranium (+2) Actinium (+3) Nuclear Decay Chains

Uranium 232 233 238 234 235

69.8 159 4.47 245 704 Protactinium years kyr Gyr 234 kyr Myr 231

32.7 Thorium 232 228 229 234 230 231 kyr 227

14.1 1.91 7340 75.4 18.7 Actinium Gyr 228 years years 225 kyr 227 days

10 21.7 Radium 228 224 225 days 226 years 223

3.62 1600 11.4 Francium days 221 years 223 days

4.9 Radon 220 min 222 219

55.6 3.82 3.96 Astatine sec 217 days sec

32.3 Polonium 216 212 msec 213 218 214 210 215

0.144 0.3 4.19 3.05 0.165 138 1.77 Bismuth sec 212 μsec 213 μsec 209 min 214 msec 210 days msec 211

45.5 2.17 1.0 hr Lead 212 208 min 209 214 210 206 211 min 207

Thallium 208 209 207

Thorium (+0) Neptunium (+1) Uranium (+2) Actinium (+3) The Thorium Decay Chain

Uranium 232

69.8 Protactinium years

Thorium 232 228 I Thorium is abundant on Earth and it would be ideal if a suitable 14.1 1.91 Actinium Gyr 228 years alpha-emitting radioisotope could be found on this decay chain Radium 228 224 I But as the decay chain passes through

3.62 gaseous radon the original inventory is Francium days dispersed to a degree

Radon 220 I Bismuth-212, with a one-hour half-life, has been considered but it has 55.6 Astatine sec disadvantages 35% of the decays are to Polonium 216 212 I thallium-208, a 0.144 0.3 hard-gamma-emitting Bismuth sec 212 μsec radioisotope Lead 212 1.0 hr 208

Thallium 208 The Uranium Decay Chain

Uranium 238 234

4.47 245 Protactinium Gyr 234 kyr I Uranium-238 is also abundant on Earth and it would be ideal if a suitable Thorium 234 230 alpha-emitting radioisotope could be

75.4 found on this decay chain Actinium kyr I But as the decay chain passes through Radium 226 a longer-lived gaseous radon isotope (Rn-222) and the original inventory is 1600 Francium years signiﬁcantly dispersed I Beyond that, there are no suitable Radon 222 alpha-emitting radioisotopes on this 3.82 Astatine days chain I Lead-210 has a 22-year half-life Polonium 218 214 210 beta-decaying to Polonium-210, which has a 138 days 3.05 0.165 138 Bismuth min 214 msec 210 days half-life—much too long to be effective in targeted alpha therapy Lead 214 210 206

Thallium The Actinium Decay Chain

Uranium 235

704 Protactinium Myr 231

32.7 Uranium-235 is quite rare on Earth Thorium 231 kyr 227 I I It also passes through gaseous radon, 18.7 Actinium 227 days leading to inventory dispersal

21.7 I There are no suitable alpha-emitting Radium years 223 radioisotopes on this chain 11.4 Francium 223 days I Bi-211 with 2 min half-life is too short Radon 219 I Artiﬁcially-produced Astatine-211 can 3.96 Astatine sec 211 be made in small quantities in particle

7.21 accelerators by bombarding natural Polonium 215 211 hrs bismuth with alpha particles

1.77 1.77 Bismuth msec 211 msec 207 I Quantities are limited by the slow reaction rate 2.17 Lead 211 min 207

Thallium 207 The Neptunium Decay Chain

Uranium 233 Parent material I This natural chain is completely extinct on Earth, but we have resurrected it by 159 creating uranium-233 from thorium in Protactinium kyr nuclear reactors. Thorium 229 Th-229 is extracted I Only this chain skips over radon altogether! 7340 Actinium years 225 Ac-225 is loaded onto generators I Bismuth-213 is arguably the very best 10 Radium 225 days isotope for targeted alpha therapy I 45 minute half-life—ideal for Francium 221 delivery I 2.2% of the time it directly 4.9 Radon min No radon! alpha-decays to thallium-209 I 97.8% of the time it beta-decays Astatine 217 to polonium-213 which immediately alpha-decays to 32.3 Polonium msec 213 lead-209 I Ends in stable and non-toxic 4.19 Bismuth 213 μsec 209 natural bismuth (active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol) 45.5 Lead min 209 I The world inventory for U-233 is stored Bi-213Thallium can be a 209 in one place—ORNL building cancer-killer! 3019...and it’s slated to be destroyed... Congress Recognized Value of Th-229 “Ac-225 and Bi-213 are currently derived from puriﬁed Th-229 extracted from U-233 at ORNL. The only practical way at present is to derive these isotopes from the natural decay of Th-229. Th-229 is produced by the natural decay of U-233. Ac-225 is the product being shipped to medical facilities. Bi-213 is separated from the Ac-225 at the hospital and combined with the targeting agent.

“Bi-213 appears to be very potent, so only a very minute quantity may be needed to treat a patient...on the order of a billionth of a gram.”

DOE IG Tried to Intervene to Preserve Th-229

In May 2008 the Inspector General of the DOE issued a strongly-worded report to stop the destruction of uranium-233 I “The loss of the uranium-233 will have signiﬁcant impact on medical research which is now requiring a greater supply of progeny isotopes than ever before.” I “Based on our discussion...we learned that there is currently a lack of programmatic authority to...continue providing progeny isotopes from uranium-233.” I “Both the U-233 inventories are now controlled and managed by DOE-EM whose mission is to dispose of these unwanted material. Given this responsibility, EM is proceeding with short-term actions to dispose of these materials as waste.” Uranium-233 Inventories in DOE