Provides a critical review of the thorium fuel cycle: potential benefits and challenges in the thorium fuel cycle, mainly based on the latest developments at the front end of the fuel cycle, applying thorium fuel cycle options, and at the back end of the thorium fuel cycle.

One of the greatest challenges for nuclear energy is how to properly manage the highly radioactive waste generated during irradiation in nuclear reactors. Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs) may offer new prospects and advantages for the transmutation of such high level nuclear waste. ADS or accelerator driven transmutation of waste (ATW) consists of a high power proton accelerator, a heavy metal spallation target that produces neutrons when bombarded by the high power beam, and a sub-critical core that is neutronically coupled to the spallation target. This publication provides a comprehensive state of the art of the ADS technology by representing the different ADS concepts proposed worldwide in the last 15 years, as well as the related R&D activities and demonstration initiatives carried out at national international level.

This publication presents the results and conclusions of an international research collaboration devoted to gaining a better understanding of the physics of Accelerator Driven Subcritical Systems (ADS), with particular emphasis on using low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. The publication contains information on nine ADS facilities, including descriptions of the hardware deployed, experiments conducted, computational resources and procedures used in the analyses, principal results obtained, and conclusions drawn from the knowledge gained as a consequence of this work. It is intended to provide information for users of ADS systems and those involved in the design of new ADS facilities to use LEU fuel and in the conversion of some existing facilities from using highly enriched Uranium (HEU) to LEU.