What are the benefits of thorium?

What are the benefits of thorium?

Benefits. Thorium is safer and more efficient to mine than uranium, thus making it more environmentally friendly. [5] The percentage of thorium found in its ore is generally greater than the percentage of uranium found in its ore, so it is more cost-efficient.

What is special about thorium?

Thorium is a basic element of nature, like Iron and Uranium. Like Uranium, its properties allow it to be used to fuel a nuclear chain reaction that can run a power plant and make electricity (among other things). Thorium itself will not split and release energy.

Is thorium the future?

Thorium reactors are a different way to generate electricity that could benefit the world. More efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts, safer than a conventional nuclear plant, and generating no carbon emissions as a byproduct, LFTRs are a viable solution for the future of our world’s energy needs.

Why isn’t thorium used more?

Although in many ways thorium would be a better radioactive element to use for nuclear power, it’s also more difficult to weaponise than uranium. Uranium and plutonium have long been at the heart of nuclear power, but many experts see thorium as a better option.

Can thorium be weaponized?

Unlike the uranium commonly used to power nuclear reactors, thorium salts are protected against meltdowns and can’t be weaponized.

Who is working on thorium reactors?

A team from the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) the Netherlands has built the first molten salt reactor powered by thorium in decades. There are several basic facts of nuclear power that have made it a tough sell around the world. For one, the uranium needed for nuclear power plants is rare and expensive.

Why don’t we use more thorium?

Thorium-based reactors are safer because the reaction can easily be stopped and because the operation does not have to take place under extreme pressures. Compared to uranium reactors, thorium reactors produce far less waste and the waste that is generated is much less radioactive and much shorter-lived.

Can you make a bomb with thorium?

Almost all thorium is fertile Th-232, compared to uranium that is composed of 99.3% fertile U-238 and 0.7% more valuable fissile U-235. It is difficult to make a practical nuclear bomb from a thorium reactor’s byproducts. Since all natural thorium can be used as fuel no expensive fuel enrichment is needed.

What countries use thorium reactors?

Thorium-based nuclear power projects

• Canada.
• China.
• Germany, 1980s.
• India.
• Indonesia.
• Israel.
• Japan.
• Norway.

What kind of uses can thorium be used for?

At constant pressure and temperature, Thorium is slowly attacked by water but does not readily dissolve in acids. As thorium is radioactive, its uses mainly lie in nuclear fuel applications.

Why is it so expensive to make thorium?

One of the biggest challenges in developing a thorium reactor is finding a way to fabricate the fuel economically. Making thorium dioxide is expensive, in part because its melting point is the highest of all oxides, at 3,300° C.

Why do we use uranium instead of thorium in nuclear reactors?

But the real reason we use uranium over thorium is a result of wartime politics. Cold War-era governments (including ours) backed uranium-based reactors because they produced plutonium — handy for making nuclear weapons. With some modifications, today’s commercial nuclear reactors could switch to thorium-based fuels, but at great cost.

What are the physical properties of thorium metal?

Physical properties of Thorium. The element is an electropositive metal and is highly reactive. It burns magnificently with a white light when heated in the air.It has 90 electrons and has 4 electrons in the valence shell. At constant pressure and temperature, Thorium is slowly attacked by water but does not readily dissolve in acids.