Interestingly, China has discovered vast deposits of Thorium in Bayan Obo mining complex in Inner Mongolia, a northern autonomous region, where estimates suggest that full extraction of these deposits could yield up to one million tonnes of thorium. This substantial reserve can fuel China for the next 60,000 years.
1.Benefit 1: More In Abundance Than Uranium
The importance of thorium in the nuclear energy industry lies in its potential to be a more abundant and efficient substitute for uranium, potentially addressing energy needs in the long term. Thorium is three times as abundant as uranium and nearly as abundant as lead and gallium in the Earth's crust. The Thorium Energy Alliance estimates "there is enough thorium in the United States alone to power the country at its current energy level for over 1,000 years.
The importance of thorium in the nuclear energy industry lies in its potential to be a more abundant and efficient substitute for uranium, potentially addressing energy needs in the long term. Thorium is three times as abundant as uranium and nearly as abundant as lead and gallium in the Earth's crust. The Thorium Energy Alliance estimates "there is enough thorium in the United States alone to power the country at its current energy level for over 1,000 years.
2.Benefit 2: Safer Than Uranium
Long-lived radioactive waste for thorium is just a fraction from nuclear plants using Uranium. In a molten-salt reactor, thorium is combined with lithium fluoride and heated to extreme temperatures of 1,400°C, where neutron bombardment initiates a chain reaction. This method is more efficient than conventional uranium reactors, generates significantly less nuclear waste, and minimizes the risk of catastrophic meltdowns
3.Thorium Nuclear Fission Fuel Just A Myth?
Nope, this is not a myth. China has already successfully proven the functionality of this concept. It has built the world's first thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR-LF1) in the Gobi Desert, achieving stable criticality in 2023 and reaching full power operation in 2024. While the reactor is a small one and only 2 Megawatt, it demonstrated the feasibility of using the less pollutive thorium to replace uranium as a nuclear fission fuel.
Parting Thoughts
The use of thorium should buy our human race sufficient time to achieve a breakthrough in the holy grail of nuclear fusion technology whereby atoms are fused together to generate energy and the waste generated are low-medium level radioactive materials relative to the current nuclear fission process.
(Note: For those interested about uranium and thorium, can read more here.)
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