thermal conductivity Low viscosity Light weight Thermal and radiation stability Other benefits: Abundant and low cost material. Cleaning with chlorine produces non-toxic table salt. Compatible with other materials used in the core (does not react or dissolve stainless steel) so no special corrosion protection measures needed. Low pumping power (from light weight and low viscosity). Maintains an oxygen (and water) free environment by reacting with trace amounts to make sodium oxide or sodium hydroxide and hydrogen, thereby protecting other components from corrosion. Light weight (low density) improves resistance to seismic inertia events (earthquakes.) Drawbacks: Extreme fire hazard with any significant amounts of air (oxygen) and spontaneous combustion with water, rendering sodium leaks and flooding dangerous. This was the case at the Monju Nuclear Power Plant in a 1995 accident and fire. Reactions with water produce hydrogen which can be explosive. Sodium activation product (isotope) 24Na releases dangerous energetic photons when it decays (however it has a very short half-life of 15 hours). Reactor design keeps 24Na in the reactor pool and carries away heat for power production using a secondary sodium loop, adding costs to construction and maintenance. Study released by UChicago Argonne See also Gas-cooled fast reactor Generation IV reactor Lead-cooled fast reactor Molten salt reactor Traveling wave reactor References Further reading The Restoration of the Earth, Theodore B. Taylor and Charles C. Humpstone, 166 pages, Harper & Row (1973) Sustainable energy – Without the Hot Air, David J.C. MacKay, 384 pages, UIT Cambridge (2009) 2081: A Hopeful View of the Human Future, Gerard K. O'Neill, 284 pages, Simon & Schuster (1981) The Second Nuclear Era: A New Start for Nuclear Power, Alvin M. Weinberg et al., 460 pages, Praeger Publishers (1985) Thorium Fuel Cycle – Potential Benefits and Challenges, IAEA, 105 pages (2005) The Nuclear Imperative: A Critical Look at the Approaching Energy Crisis (More Physics for Presidents), Jeff Eerkens, 212 pages, Springer (2010) External links The Integral Fast Reactor at Argonne National Laboratory Archived material from a site about the IFR formerly hosted by UC Berkeley: (archived) page index (archived) Introduction (archived) Integral Fast Reactor (archived) IFR Metallic Fuel (archived) Safety Characteristics (archived) Fuel Cycle Facility (archived) Fuel Manufacturing Facility (archived) The IFR Vision (archived) Reactor Burns Waste as Fuel in Nuclear Recycling Experiment Integral Fast Reactors: Source of Safe, Abundant, Non-Polluting Power by George S. Stanford, Ph.D. Frontline interview with Dr. Till. IFR Q&A with Tom