Thorium...the fuel of the future?
http://www.ensec.org/
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So far, India is one country who is most committed in studying the use of thorium fuel. They believe that this element has a potential to become nuclear fuel for future reactors of all types. Thorium is an ore or monoazite that can be found in large amount in the dark beach sand of India, Australia, Brazil, Norway, USA, Canada, and South Africa.
This element as a based fuel cycles have been studied for 30 years but on a much smaller scale compared to uranium/plutonium cycles.
The UK, Russia and the USA have done research and development like irradiating thorum fuel in test reactors.
At the moment, India is finished with the first stage of its nuclear program. The Indian authorities approved India's Department of Atomic Energy's proposal in setting up a prototype of the next-generation fast breeder nuclear power reactor at Kalpakkam and setting the stage for the commercial exploitation of thorium as a fuel source.
source:
www.thorenco.com/techdocs/nuclear_report.pdf
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Negatives - In spite of all the positives, there are negatives too which is why it is not receiving much funding for research other than in countries like India and Australia where it is found in large quantities. The reasons are:
1. Thorium itself is difficult to reprocess.
2. Since it is not fissile (able to split) itself and so through irradiation process it produce uranium 233 which is fissile. In countries like the US and other European countries where uranium availability is not a worry, the need to go through the thorium route is not felt as of now.
3. Mining thorium produces waste in the form of mill tailings and produces radioactive wastes contaminated by Th-228 which can take centuries to come down to safe levels.
4. Until and unless there happens to be a shortage of uranium in the developed countries, its research will not be able to get much funding there at least.
source: http://www.power-technology.com/features/feature1141/
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/123268/20110316/thorium-rare-earth-liability-or-asset.htm
http://wiki.answers.com
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Az wikipedia tells-
Thorium (THOR-ee-um) is a naturally occurring radioactive chemical element, found in abundance throughout the world. Thorium atoms (symbol Th) have an atomic number of 90, with 90 protons and 90 electrons, of which 4 are valence electrons. It was discovered in 1828 and named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder.
In nature, thorium is found as thorium-232 (100.00%). Thorium decays slowly by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of thorium-232 is about 14.05 billion years. It is estimated to be about three to four times more abundant than uranium in the Earth's crust. It is a by-product of the extraction of rare earths from monazite sands. The formerly widespread uses of thorium, for example as a light emitting material in gas mantles or as an alloying material in several metals, have decreased due to concerns about its radioactivity.
Thorium-232 was used for breeding nuclear fuel – uranium (233), for example, in the molten-salt reactor experiment (MSR) conducted in the United States from 1964 to 1969. Most of the initial test reactors were closed down. However, countries including Russia, India, and recently China, have plans to use thorium for their nuclear power, partly because of its safety benefits.
And apart this The Telegraph sayz-
A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium.
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It basically has all the disadvantages of uranium and then some. In fact, it needs to be turned into uranium before it is used. So if you don't like nuclear reactors or radioactive nuclear waste you won't like thorium.
The only advantage to thorium is that some countries have it that don't have any uranium.
Although it could extend and expand the use of nuclear reactors worldwide, that is not a good thing. While nuclear power from fission may be needed until better sources are more fully developed, that is sure to happen before we run short of uranium.
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However, the wide variety of options currently being offered needs to be substantially narrowed down in order to make the most of current funding, research, and resources. More is being spent on alternative energy now than ever before. Still, most alternative fuels are very costly to produce, and there are considerable advantages and disadvantages to each fuel source.
Another aspect of this equation, as pointed out elsewhere here, is that there are a number of public interest groups that take a negative stance towards nuclear energy of any kind. Whether those concerns are misplaced or not remains up in the air. The battle for future energy sources, as well as allocation of funds, depends a great deal on educating the public about the FACTS.
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From the lectures I've watched this needs to happen sooner rather than later.
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