Thorium, Blood of Civilization

When the choices for developing nuclear energy were being made, uranium was chosen because it had the byproduct of producing plutonium that could be weaponized. But thorium is safer, easier to work with, and gads more efficient. The plants are smaller, use a hundred times less fuel by mass, and the operating costs are much less.

It’s abundant— the US has at least 175,000 tons of thorium (each reactor is estimated to expend about 1 ton per year) and it doesn’t require costly processing. It is extraordinarily efficient as a nuclear fuel. As it decays in a reactor core, its byproducts produce more neutrons per collision than conventional fuels. The more neutrons per collision, the more energy generated, the less total fuel consumed, and the less waste product. You can also use thorium in entirely new kinds of reactors, that have a geographical footprint a thousand times smaller and have no risk of meltdown.

Emissions from power generation equals zero, and thorium is everywhere (it’s even in your dirt). Thorium plants are proliferation resistant (cannot produce fuel for nuclear weapons) and are considered fourth generation reactors. Thorium may be the blood of civilization in the 2040s.

Inspired by “Uranium is So Last Century“, by Richard Martin, published in Wired, December 21, 2009.