Otherside

This message serves as my official support for Thorium Energy. "What the bloody hell is Thorium?" you might be asking. Well, the real question is: what isn't Thorium?

Traditional Fission Reactors use Uranium fuel. They bombard it with sub-atomic particles that cause the individual Uranium atoms to split apart, generating energy in the process. Furthermore, those very same atoms release particles that further trigger yet more fission, with the resultant chain reaction creating untold amounts of energy.

The problem with this process is that, without the presence of dampeners, it leads to a runaway fission reaction, which in colloquial terms is called a "Nuclear Meltdown." The resultant radiation and heat consequently pollute vast swatches of land with fallout, with the radioactive particles having such a long half-life that the land is for all intents and purposes permanently rendered uninhabitable to human life.

This is where Thorium comes into play. Unlike Uranium, splitting Thorium particles has no potential for a fissile chain reaction, and hence there is no risk of a meltdown.

But this is not the extent of Thorium's benefits. Its radioactive byproducts also have several orders of magnitude shorter half-lives. Not only that, but it is far more abundant on this Earth, and both cheaper and safer to mine than Uranium, not to mention its resultant nuclear waste cannot be converted into weapons-grade material.

If those facts were not enough of a benefit, it is also found almost exclusively in Western nations, allowing for energy independence, and needs not go through any expensive enrichment processes to be industrial-grade.

Disadvantages of Thorium do exist. But they are so few in number as to more than justify its commercialization. And it is my personal hope that, for the good of both the world and humanity, its usage is further explored.