Speaker
Prof.
Maurice Bourquin
(University of Geneva and iThEC)
Description
We live in a world where the demand for energy is increasing and where the use of fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) is threatening the environment. While nuclear power plants produce no CO2 and no atmospheric pollutants, the issue of the long-standing problem of management of the long-lived nuclear waste is not solved. I will show how Accelerator Driven Systems, using thorium instead of uranium as fuel, represent a feasible solution and are being developed in several parts of the world. The impact of the research in these innovative systems is expected to be very high: spanning from the elimination of the military-grade plutonium, to the transmutation of accumulated nuclear waste, up to the deployment of a safer energy source.
Primary author
Prof.
Maurice Bourquin
(University of Geneva and iThEC)
