Thorium based nuclear power - pipe dream or holy grail for nuclear industry?

[LazyGun]

I recently read this article
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/348

On the benefits of thorium vs uranium.All sounds very good and all, but is it feasible for large scale power generation, or is the article a bit optimistic? On the face of it, I would have thought some serious investment warranted - but the huge funding that went into the MOX facility and the white elephant that has turned into makes me a bit sceptical.

[jomifl]

I can't help suspecting that the energy required to run the particle beam generator might cost more than the energy produced. Theoreticians do sometimes overlook the practical aspects of an idea. There have been many examples of this.

[Old_Geezer]

Hmm four pages will take a while to read through, especially as the first page seems to wander around instead of geting to the point. But If it could burn up existing high-level radioactive waste it might be of use regardless of any potential to supply energy. Hope it works out, no doubt time will tell.

[jomifl]

OG. just read the relevant bits.

[jake-the-peg]

There's interest in Thorium reactors that's true - I think a few of the risks have been glossed over like the production of Radon gas from Thorium decay.

Radioactive gasses are not nice to deal with but the biggest problem is the lack of infrastructure and work (read cost) that is needed to develop and certify such reactors.

Having said that India seems fairly keen on it.

A slightly more concise and informative article here:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf62.html

[atalanta]

The huge disadvantage of thorium which is likely to prove exorbitantly ( and prohiibitively ) costly is the fact that it is intensely corrosive. It eats its way through just about everything, so containers, pipes, rods, storage, etc all will have to be redesigned using novel materials which have yet to be invented or discovered.

[LazyGun]

Thanks for the input folks - Does seem the original article was rather overoptimistic.

Thanks for the link jtp

[rov1100]

Maybe we should be looking for other sources than Uranium. The world stocks of this are due to run out in about 85 years and we like many other countries are increasing our reliance on nuclear. So when our new nuclear power stations come on line there will be a dwindling source of Uranium which can only mean one thing, higher prices or non availability.