Thorium: The Greener Nuclear Alternative
Instead of giving up on nuclear power, say a group of nuclear scientists, we should just switch from uranium-based reactors to ones fueled by cheaper, safer thorium.
- What is thorium?
A silvery metal (symbol: Th; atomic number: 90) close to uranium on the periodic table of elements, with just two fewer protons. It was discovered in 1828, and is named after the Norse god of thunder. As an added bonus, it’s “almost as common as dirt,” says Antonia Zerbisias in The Toronto Star.
- Why are fans so excited about it?
Thorium-fueled reactors are supposed to be much safer than uranium-powered ones, use far less material, produce waste that is toxic for a shorter period of time, and is hard to weaponize. In fact, thorium can even feed off of toxic plutonium waste to produce energy. And because the biggest cost in nuclear power is safety, and thorium reactors can’t melt down, argues Michael Anissimov in Accelerating Future, they will eventually be much cheaper, too.
- How cheap would it be?
If a town of 1,000 bought a 1-megawatt thorium reactor for $250,000, using 20 kilograms of thorium a year with almost no oversight, every family could pay as little as $0.40 a year for all their electricity, Anissimov predicts. And small reactors like that aren’t just potentially cost-effective, he says; they’re much safer, too.So, if thorium is cheaper and safer, why do we use uranium? Because we can make weapons out of its byproducts.
Motherboard TV: The Thorium Dream
This is a great documentary on the element radioactive Thorium. It was set aside in the early nuclear research days in order to produce uranium and plutonium for weapons. I highly recommend you give it a watch and research this element and the new research on the subject.
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In our case, it was the latter. While the idea of building small, thorium-based nuclear reactors – thought to be dramatically safer, cheaper, cleaner and terror-proof than our current catalog of reactors – can be shooed away as fringe by some, the germ of the idea began in the U.S. government’s major atomic lab, at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the 1960s, only to be left by the wayside as the American nuclear industry plowed ahead with its development of the light water reactors and the uranium fuel cycle. It’s only in the past half-decade that the idea has picked up steam again on the Internet, thanks to enterprising enthusiasts who have chronicled the early experiments, distributed documents, and posted YouTube videos. But if thorium’s second life on the Internet has grown the flock of adherents exponentially, it’s also pulled in more than a few people whose nuclear expertise doesn’t extend far past Wikipedia, adding a sheen of hype to the proceedings.
Still, the idea has legs, if new research programs by India and China are any indication. The former has just announced a prototype thorium-based advanced heavy water reactor, while the latter is researching a liquid fuel reactor based on the 1960s design. In the U.S., the race is being advanced not by the government but by some of the central movers and shakers of the Internet movement.
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It seems that the professionals all over the world want Thorium, but why do we still refuse to pursue it?
A general working on the Manhattan project had great faith in Enrico Fermi’s work, but it looked as if the other scientists’ theory about splitting the atom and causing a chain reaction using uranium rather than thorium was gaining favor. The general, despondent, thought that he would give Fermi one last chance. He wrote up a requisition for one more shipment of thorium and passed it on to his clerk. Just as he did so, he began to smile rather than pout. His clerk asked, “Why the sudden change in mood, sir?” The general replied, “That’s because I just realized that I approved Fermi’s last thorium.”
