India is going to be the greatest supplier of fuel in a few years!
Unbelievable, isn't it?
Uranium is considered the most essential fuel in today's world. But it is discovered that if the present rate of consumption continues, then, within a few decades Uranium would be in extreme shortage. So, secondary fuel resources would be in great demands.
This is where India comes in! It is said that in a few decades, thorium, a naturally occuring radioactive element, would replace uranium as it is more abundant and is economically beneficial.
Thorium is particularly attractive for India, as it has only around 1–2% of the global uranium reserves, but one of the largest shares of global thorium reserves at about 30% of the total world thorium reserves.The country published about twice the number of papers on thorium as its nearest competitors, during each of the years from 2002 to 2006. The Indian nuclear establishment estimates that the country could produce 500 GWe for at least four centuries using just the country’s economically
extractable thorium reserves.
A 2005 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency discusses potential benefits along with the challenges of thorium reactors. India has also made thorium-based nuclear reactors a priority with its focus on developing fast breeder technology.
Some benefits of thorium fuel when compared with uranium were summarized as follows:
Unbelievable, isn't it?
Uranium is considered the most essential fuel in today's world. But it is discovered that if the present rate of consumption continues, then, within a few decades Uranium would be in extreme shortage. So, secondary fuel resources would be in great demands.
 |
| Thorium |
Thorium is particularly attractive for India, as it has only around 1–2% of the global uranium reserves, but one of the largest shares of global thorium reserves at about 30% of the total world thorium reserves.The country published about twice the number of papers on thorium as its nearest competitors, during each of the years from 2002 to 2006. The Indian nuclear establishment estimates that the country could produce 500 GWe for at least four centuries using just the country’s economically
extractable thorium reserves.
A 2005 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency discusses potential benefits along with the challenges of thorium reactors. India has also made thorium-based nuclear reactors a priority with its focus on developing fast breeder technology.
Some benefits of thorium fuel when compared with uranium were summarized as follows:
- Weapons-grade fissionable material is harder to retrieve safely and clandestinely from a thorium reactor;
- Thorium produces 10 to 10,000 times less long-lived radioactive waste;
- Thorium mining produces a single pure isotope, whereas the mixture of natural uranium isotopes must be enriched to function in most common reactor designs. The same cycle could also use the fissionable U-238 component of the natural uranium, and also contained in the depleted reactor fuel;
- Thorium cannot sustain a nuclear chain reaction without priming, so fission stops by default in an accelerator driven reactor.
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