Thorium is an element on the periodic table of elements named - you guessed it - after the God of Thunder, Thor.
Joking aside, you'll notice Thorium is one away on the Periodic Table from "U" Uranium, which is the main element used to generate nuclear power - among other things. A certain type of enriched uranium allowed for creation of nuclear weapons. Thorium, like Uranium, can be used to generate nuclear power. However, Uranium "is only slightly radioactive...it's abundant...doesn't require costly processing, [and] it is extraordinarily efficient as a nuclear fuel" as Richard Martin writes in a December 2009 Wired.com article. Thorium's benefits don't stop there. Martin goes on to write that Thorium:
Leaves behind minuscule amounts of waste... that needs to be stored for only a few hundred years, not a few hundred thousand like other nuclear byproducts. Because it’s so plentiful in nature, it’s virtually inexhaustible. It’s also one of only a few substances that acts as a thermal breeder, in theory creating enough new fuel as it breaks down to sustain a high-temperature chain reaction indefinitely. And it would be virtually impossible for the byproducts of a thorium reactor to be used by terrorists or anyone else to make nuclear weapons (Martin, Richard; Wired.com).
This element isn't new, either. It was discovered in the 1950s, but at that time, Ken Silverstein writes that the "federal government made the fundamental decision to place its research and development funds into 'uraniaum' which could be also used to make nuclear bombs" in a April, 2012 energybiz article. Remember that in this Cold War context, the government probably saw investing in Uranium as killing too birds with one stone; develop power for a growing nation, and weapons to fight the Soviet Union, with one element.
However now, in the aftermath of Japan's Fukoshima meltdown, ever increasing energy requirements, the problems with the dumping of nuclear waste, and in the midst of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, it might be time for a change. Thorium, combined with a new type of reactor called a LFTR - Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor - that uses molten liquid fluoride salts to self-regulate and cool the reactor - would apparently virtually eliminate the possibility of meltdowns like Fukoshima (Martin, Richard; Wired.com).
This chat below (also from the Wired.com article) shows the differences between standard Uranium reactors we have today, a potential Uranium and Thorium reactor, and the LFTR Thorium only reactor.
As you can see, Thorium is the clear winner in cost, cooling, proliferation potential and footprint.
China and India have already begun to look into Thorium reactors to manage their own growing energy needs. Thorium hasn't yet gained much momentum inside the United States, however, because of very real obstacles. The US would effectively need to build new an entire new fleet of nuclear reactors in order to fully embrace Thorium, engineers would have to be retrained, and energy companies inside the US would need to be on board with this infrastructure change, or they would mostly likely suffer. The startup costs would be huge, in a time where the American public doesn't want to see government spending.
Despite the obstacles, Thorium gives me hope. Cleaner, safer, more efficient nuclear power, combined with increased efforts in wind and solar technologies would give us a way to wean ourselves off of oil and coal, hopefully starting - at last - to curb the waste we currently flood our skies, seas, and earth with on an daily basis. Thorium will not magically solve all of our problems. But it is a step in the right direction, I think, and it is a possibility. Even more encouraging is the China and India are moving to implement LFTRs. If China and India succeed in their endeavors, more developing countries might start up with more efficient technologies in the first place.
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