Possessing the symbol Th and atomic number 90, Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive chemical used as a substitute for nuclear fuel in nuclear reactors in countries like India, U.S.A, Canada, U. K, and Netherlands.
Thorium is found in Thorium- 232 and it is also used as an alloying element in non-consumable TIG welding electrodes. Countries are more and more interested in using Thorium because of its high availability and occurrence as compared to uranium, due to its absence of non-fertile isotopes and its safety benefits. It is a matter of pride for all the Indians that India’s three stage nuclear power programs has been funded and well known of these efforts. When it comes to world’s energy future, Thorium is expected to change the world for better.
It is extremely essential for India to increase its electricity production capacity to fight the innumerable black- outs that the state has to witness throughout the year. The Indian government blames the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh for using more electricity than what has been allotted to them.
Image Courtesy: thoriumforum.com
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The Indian government has declared that India would construct its first ever 300 MW thorium reactor by 2016- 2017 in collaboration with its Atomic Energy Commission. Named after the Norse God of thunder, Thorium has been described by Forbes as possibly “the biggest energy breakthrough since fire”.
Thorium as a matter of fact holds the capacity of replacing Uranium as an ultra-safe and amazingly cheap nuclear resource.
India’s thorium plans are far more effective and efficient than any other developed countries like the U.S.A and the U.K. a thorium plant is soon to be set up in India once regulatory and environment impact clearances are made.
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The location decided for the first Thorium reactor is Kundankulam in Tamilnadu or Tarapur in Maharashtra. It is said that India will be able to survive on its Thorium reserves for hundreds of years because the fuel requirement would be 4.7 tons per year and 52 tonnes of fuel in its core initially. It has been estimated that once India itself becomes sufficient of its energy resources, it can actually export Thorium to developing countries in East Asia and Middle East.
Coal, which is considered as hazardous to the environment, occupies 68 percent of the nation’s electricity resources. Slowly and steadily, this has to be replaced by Thorium because of its environmentally friendly nature. But what is sad is that in addition to coal scams, thorium scams have also been witnessed by the Indian government.
An estimate scandal of more than 48 lakh crores have been reported by the media recently. These scandals are the primary reason why India cannot develop in most of the important areas.
India is abundant in thorium supplies and it is thus essential for it to maintain and develop thorium power plant. Once the thorium project is successful, there will be no shortage of electricity supply in India.