The whole world is about energy. At least from the human perspective. Energy is used everywhere in our daily lives, even human body needs energy for functioning. Basically energy flows through the planet. Human race has just learned how to use the energy on its own purposes, for example via engines that burn fuel and use the energy from it. Although, there is a price for human energy consumption: when it increases, the amount of emission usually does the same. The use of oil, natural gas and coal creates emissions, such as CO2. Besides of these, we have nuclear power that produces its own waste. Nuclear power has been taken as a “clean” energy source. It doesn’t directly affect on the atmosphere, but the radioactive waste will be serious problem in somewhere in the future. Already the incident of the Chernobyl (not to mention the Fukushima) showed us what the risks are. A lot of radioactive waste is waiting its final placement around the world. Deep underground in the bedrock is the last grave of the waste. Or at least the calculations say so, no one can predict precisely what happens in next hundred thousand years (infinity from human point of view) and even after that the waste isn’t totally harmful. What if I tell you that we might have a solution that is environmental friendly, now and in future? We have a possibility with substance called Thorium. And I say “might have” and “possibility” because nothing is for sure. The element thorium holds great invocation potential when we are looking for new energy sources, but it’s still poorly known. There might be risks that are still unknown, but more research is needed. One of the reasons for not using the thorium in energy production, is that it is an unfamiliar substance. Kind of twisted, I would say. If something is unfamiliar, do research. Other reason for not using it, is that use of uranium is easier and cheaper: thorium would need new reactors (old ones for the uranium aren’t suitable), and the whole production chain (mining, processing, and distribution) would have to be created from the beginning. That’s still not enough to convince me that we shouldn’t use thorium. There might be risks but the risks of the current nuclear power are extremely high. I would like to believe that it’s not just about the money. Nuclear power has one justification on its side: the risks are known. So, not much. The comparison between current uranium-based nuclear power and liquid fluoride thorium reactor might feel a bit difficult, so let me make it easier with the table below. It is also good to know that on the Earth, there are 3-4 times more thorium than uranium. There are already some fluoride thorium reactor prototypes in the world and more is coming in the near future. Energy industry is in a state of change and it’s interesting to see what part thorium is going to play in it.
Sources: Ilmastotieto. 2011. Sulasuolareaktori - energiaa thoriumista. Read Oct. 2015. https://ilmastotieto.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/sulasuolareaktori-%E2%80%93-energiaa-toriumista/ Wikipedia. 2015. Occurance of thorium. Read Oct. 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occurrence_of_thorium |
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May 2019
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