Why Thorium Not Used Instead Of Uranium

Understanding Thorium…                                                                                   by larry

Worth a note:

• The reason we are not placing more emphasis on thorium as a safe energy source isentirely political.
   
• Thorium is more abundant than uranium.
   
• There is enough known thorium to supply our energy needs for the next 1,000 years.
   
• Thorium cannot be used to produce the raw material for nuclear weaponry.
   
• Thorium reactors cannot meltdown under any circumstances.
   
• Thorium can be used to ‘burn’ up existing stockpiles of weapons grade plutonium
  
  
  
  
  
  Thorium (Th) is a naturally-occurring metal that is only slightly radioactive. It was first discovered in 1882 by the Swedish chemist, Jons Jakob Berzelius. In its pure form, thorium is a silvery-white metal that over time slowly tarnishes in air.
  Thorium boasts having one of the highest melting points of all oxides (3300° Celsius). When heated, thorium ignites and burns with a brilliant white light. Current uses include light bulb elements, lantern mantles, powerful arc-light lamps, heat-resistant ceramics and welding electrodes. Glass containing thorium oxide has a high refractive index and is used in top quality lenses for cameras and scientific equipment.
  The most common source of thorium is the phosphate mineral, monazite; which can contain up to 12% thorium phosphate.
  
  The world's known monazite resources are estimated to be approximately 1.2 million tonnes; two thirds of which are in the heavy mineral sands deposits on the south and east coasts of India.
  Worth a note: Monazite also contains economically extractable rare-earth metals such as cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium and iridium. An immediate benefit of producing thorium would be the creation of additional supplies of strategic metals.  
  Is Thorium a Viable Energy Option for the Future?
  Before that question can be answered, we must lightly tap the history of nuclear power. It is important to remember that capable and efficient nuclear pioneers such as Alvin Weinberg, Eugene Wigner and other esteemed men of science connected to the Manhattan Project believed thorium trumped uranium as a more certain and verifiable way of generating electricity through nuclear energy. The only downside to thorium? It was useless for their immediate goal – the building of a nuclear bomb! 
  Two detonated war-time bombs later and a glut of global destruction buried in secret silo’s, we are still relying upon uranium; albeit now allegedly for peaceful purposes. Case in point: There are roughly 450 uranium based nuclear power plants on earth, with another 32 under construction; and approximately 150 planned to be constructed over the next decade. Together, these nuclear power plants produce over 15% of the world’s total energy use. With numbers like this, one would assume that uranium is the answer, has always been the answer, and will continue to be the answer; not so!
  The Thorium Renaissance…
  ….is not a misnomer; but yet another cogent and conclusive example of American Exceptionalism – a cherished ideal the current regime in Washington goes to great pains to discredit. One has to only research President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace”.  Despite the fact that conventional fuel prices were low in 1957, and there were plentiful supplies of coal, oil and natural gas, America constructed its first thorium nuclear power generating plant at Shippingport, Pennsylvania.
  Even though the experimental Shippingport plant proved beyond a doubt that the thorium-based breeder technology worked both safely and efficiently in a commercial scale reactor; the combination of low-priced fossil fuels and the abundance of (military generated) stockpiles of existing and enriched uranium meant the thorium-based breeder technology was not an economically viable option. The plant was decommissioned in 1982, and the concept of using thorium as a safe, efficient and abundant energy source almost faded into obscurity.
  No (real) choice except Thorium…

  A Note on Uranium: Overall, the price of uranium is decreasing and appears inevitable to continue to drop in the short term as more countries delay and/or suspend their plans for uranium-based nuclear power plants. Countries like China and Japan have already halted their uranium-based nuclear programs and are already making plans to burn more diesel, coal and liquid natural gas to off-set the power shortfall; in turn this will raise the prices of oil, natural gas and coal. That being said, developments in thorium-based nuclear power will commence, as in the long run, nations cannot depend on increasingly costly and environmentally unfriendly sources of energy.

  Strange Days...Instead of consciously and purposely embracing the gift of thorium, we now find ourselves living in a kool-aid moment where a large segment of the world population actually believes that the forced, and heavily subsidized use of a forest of windmills and acres of plated mirrors can be ramped up to provide sufficient and sustainable energy to supply future energy requirements; even though the so-called green energy only supplies less than 2% of ourcurrent energy needs!
  Notwithstanding the inevitable demise of the world’s bird population thanks to windmills, let us review what it takes to construct just one of these inefficient "green" power generators: 260 tonnes of steel that is made from burning 170 tonnes of coal and 300 tonnes of iron ore; all mined and transported by hydrocarbon-based products. The average life-cycle of a windmill? Two decades, give or take a year or two.
  Whereas one tonne of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tonnes of uranium or over 3,000,000 tonnes of coal. To put this all in human terms; less than ten tablespoons of thorium could provide the total energy needs for a single person during their entire lifetime.
  Note: The International Energy Agency states the world must invest $25 trillion over the next two decades to avert an energy shock. You can already see the negative results of countries fighting each other for control of fossil-based energy. Thus far, after a promising start, America has turned away from thorium and Europe has dropped the ball. Fortunately, China has the vision to understand the importance of thorium-generated energy.
  Along with China, the world’s premier manufacturing giant, India is also aggressively investing in research to build thorium-based reactors. The government of India has made it clear their long-term objective is to become totally energy-independent by taking advantage of its vast reserves of thorium.
  Setting aside President Obama’s curious and inexpressible ‘sputnik moment’, if Americans do not get back on the ball they could find themselves importing technology originally developed over sixty years ago at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Not to be an uber-alarmist, but if Americans enjoyed the dubious political alliances based on foreign-oil dependency, they are really going to love foreign-nuclear dependency!
  At this point I am researching only two publicly-traded Canadian junior exploration companies that appear to understand the importance of thorium. I have been told by investment specialists that I may be way early in the game for the market to appreciate investing in thorium. I would have to disagree, as monazite, which as previously stated contains up to 12% thorium oxide also contains economically extractable rare-earth metals such as cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium and iridium. An immediate benefit of producing thorium would be the creation of additional supplies of strategic metals.  Definitely worth both current and near-future consideration!
  As far as current energy related opportunities are concerned, there is yet no substitute for our most basic and reliable fuel source: coal. With the prices of coal continuing to appreciate, we must remain true to our reality-based investment stratagem and invest in what is right in front of us – coal companies with strong management and assets in the ground.