Thorium promoters claim advantages over uranium, a cheaper, more efficient, and safer form of nuclear power that produces less nuclear waste than todays uranium-based technology. Actually, the United States has tried to develop thorium as an energy source for some 50 years and is still struggling to deal with the legacy of those failed attempts. In addition to the billions of dollars it spent, mostly fruitlessly, to develop thorium fuels, the US government will have to spend billions more, at numerous federal nuclear sites, to deal with the wastes produced by those efforts. And America’s energy-from-thorium quest now faces an ignominious conclusion: The US Energy Department appears to have lost track of 96 kilograms of uranium 233, a fissile material made from thorium that can be fashioned into a bomb, and is battling the state of Nevada over the proposed dumping of nearly a ton of left-over fissile materials in a government landfill, in apparent violation of international standards... beyondnuclear.org/storage/fact-sheets/Thorium_Alvarez.pdf
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 21:48:40 +0000
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