Is Thorium the Future of Nuclear Energy?
Jack Spencer / Joseph Baranoski /
What if the future of energy has been sitting unused on the periodic table for decades? Mike Anderson, author of “Thorium-Powered Abundance,” believes it has. He talked with Jack Spencer on a recent episode of “The Power Hour” podcast about the amazing potential of thorium. This exciting element has the power to reshape the nuclear energy landscape.
According to Anderson, thorium has several unique advantages. Thorium reactors can be significantly smaller than current reactors. Anderson also points out that thorium is extremely efficient as a fuel source and is more common than uranium, the most widely used nuclear fuel.
Additionally, thorium reactors have several appealing safety features. They operate at low pressures and can have a “freeze plug,” which melts to stop the reaction if the reactor overheats.
Anderson also argues that thorium fueled reactors present an opportunity to change how we think about so-called nuclear waste. For example, medically useful isotopes can be harvested from thorium reactors, and they generate less waste by volume than the most common types of nuclear plants. Thorium reactors can also generate energy from other reactors’ spent fuel.
If thorium is so great, why aren’t thorium reactors as common as uranium reactors? The reason is partly historical and partly political.
Anderson explains that when nuclear reactors were first being developed, thorium was often the fuel of choice. However, uranium-based reactors were better at fulfilling some Cold War-era national security needs. Uranium was the fuel of choice for naval propulsion. Uranium-fueled reactors can also generate plutonium, a material that is important for the creation of nuclear weapons. Thorium reactors instead create uranium 233, which does not have the risk of furthering nuclear proliferation.
These decisions—correctly—prioritized national security concerns over commercial attractiveness. The problem is that U.S. nuclear energy policy remains, in many ways, informed by those old ways of thinking, and that creates barriers to bringing new technologies into the market, including thorium.
Spencer and Anderson discuss some of these policy challenges, including how nuclear waste policy and government-mandated insurance schemes prevent the full benefits of new technology from reaching their market potential. Government-mandated insurance schemes treat all reactors the same, despite actually carrying different risks.
Thorium’s advocates tell us that its abundance, efficiency, and safety make it a promising option for the future of energy production but that outdated policies and regulatory barriers hold the technology back. The best way to find out if they are correct is to remove those barriers and allow new technologies to compete.
To learn more about thorium’s potential and the challenges it faces, check out “The Power Hour” podcast or email [email protected].