Thorium Reactors

[Sunsettommy]

World Nuclear Association

July,2010

EXCERPT:

Thorium continues to be a tanatalising possibility for use in nuclear power reactors, though for many years India has been the only sponsor of major research efforts to use it. Other endeavours include the development of the Radkowsky Thorium Reactor concept being carried out by US company Thorium Power (now Lightbridge Corporation) with Russian collaboration.

In mid-2009, AECL signed agreements with three Chinese entities to develop and demonstrate the use of thorium fuel in the Candu reactors at Qinshan in China. Another mid-2009 agreement, between Areva and Lightbridge Corporation, was for assessing the use of thorium fuel in Areva's EPR, drawing upon earlier research. Thorium can also be used in Generation IV and other advanced nuclear fuel cycle systems.
Nature and sources of thorium

Thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, where it is about three times more abundant than uranium. Soil commonly contains an average of around 6 parts per million (ppm) of thorium.

Thorium-232 (Th-232) decays very slowly (its half-life is about three times the age of the Earth) but other thorium isotopes occur in its and in uranium's decay chains. Most of these are short-lived and hence much more radioactive than Th-232, though on a mass basis they are negligible.

LINK

[Sunsettommy]

Here is another website to look over:

THORIUM ENERGY ALLIANCE

LINK

[Richard111]

WUWT had a post about rare earths used in auto manufacturing. I followed the link and found this gem:

Editorial: The Truth About Rare Earths and Hybrids

Quote:Thankfully, rare earths aren’t that rare. China has huge deposits of rare earth ores and (until very recently) little regard for the environmental impact of mining and refining them. In 2007, China exported 49k tons of rare earth products, down 14.93 percent. BUT the export value surged 51 percent to $1.179 billion. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping stated “There is oil in the Middle East. There are rare earths in China. We must take full advantage of this resource.” And so they have.

The U.S. used to be the world’s biggest producer of rare earths. That ended in the ’90s when the Mountain Pass mining operation in California shut down due to “market pressure” (i.e., cheap Chinese product). Environmental regulations also helped seal the mine’s fate; rare earth mining can produce some pretty nasty byproducts like thorium.

My emphasis. Amazing what a limited world view people can have.
This was posted back in July 2009 so he may be wiser now.

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Excellent link in Post #2, SST. Many thanks.

May I advise all readers, if you only look at just one of the available downloads, look at UraniumWastes_ThoriumSolution.pdf and you will be much wiser.