Money Never Sleeps Thorium – The New Green Fuel?

It has been estimated that the nuclear energy available in thorium is greater than that available from all of the world’s oil, coal and uranium combined. And thorium is also very abundant in nature. Thorium is approximately three times as abundant as uranium in the earth’s crust, reflecting the fact that thorium has a longer half-life. It is approximately as abundant as lead in the earth’s crust. In addition, thorium generally is present in higher concentrations (2-10%) by weight than uranium (0.1-1%) in their respective ores, making thorium retrieval much less expensive and less environmentally damaging per unit of energy extracted. Countries with significant thorium mineral deposits include: Australia, India, Brazil, USA, Canada, China, Russia, Norway, Turkey, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, South Africa, and Malaysia.

Naturally occurring thorium has one isotope- thorium-232. In a typical thorium reactor, a very small amount of U-235 is used to “kick-start” the reaction process after which only thorium fuel is added. Unlike a conventional uranium reactor, where one-third of the U-235 fuel is added every 18 months, a typical thorium reactor only requires about 3% extra thorium every 18 months.

So, thorium is more abundant than uranium, it costs less to extract from the earth, it produces only minimal amounts of nuclear waste and the impact on the environment of thorium extraction is far less than that of uranium. Why, then, is thorium not the fuel of choice for nuclear reactors? The main reason appears to be that, unlike uranium, thorium is very difficult if not impossible to “weaponise”. In other words, it is far more difficult to construct a nuclear bomb from thorium.  More at:
http://www.newstime.co.za/column/ChrisGilmour/Thorium_%E2%80%93_The_New_Green_Fuel/99/2755/