THORIUM ENERGY AND INDIA
Ø Immense Energy of Thorium: -
Thorium is one of the most abundant enlisted radioactive elements found on earth. Although Thorium exists in nature in a single isotopic form — Th-232, it creates a massive amount of energy that can meet the demand of a country like India for many years. Many people think that producing energy from radioactive elements will be very dangerous. Well, it may have been in the past because of the use of a different kind of fuel, but in the case of Thorium, we can harvest its energy without much risk.
Ø Nuclear Energy and its Origin: -
The principle of nuclear fission energy is simple. When we split the nucleus of an atom, we get much energy. For example, if a neutron hits a U-235 atom, it splits into two lighter atoms (Ba-141 & Kr-92) with three neutrons. These three neutrons hit the other three U-235 atoms and do the same. In this way, the chain reaction goes on, and we get massive energy. But the question is, where does this energy come from? If we put this reaction into an equation we will get,
mass of {the neutron + U-235} (before the reaction) = 236.053 atomic mass and mass of {three neutrons + barium + krypton atom} (after the reaction) = 235.867 atomic mass. So clearly, the reduction of mass (236.053–235.867 = 0.186 atomic mass), which obeys the famous formula of Einstein E=mc², leads to the production of immense energy.
Ø All about Nuclear Plants: -
A nuclear power plant is where electric energy is produced from nuclear energy through a nuclear reactor. Inside the reactor chamber, fuel rods contain nuclear fuel (ex: U-235). Inside the fuel rod, the uranium atom gets split, and according to the previous reaction we discussed, heat energy is created. Around those rods, we have water which gets turned into steam which further drives the steam turbine and generates electricity. But there are control rods inside the reactors. Those rods, generally made of cadmium or boron, absorb the extra neutrons. It maintains the reactor’s temperature by ceasing the chain reaction and preventing the reactor from becoming an atom bomb. So, you can see there is no carbon emission in this process, and the operation of a nuclear power plant is entirely green.
Ø Radiation Waste: -
Radioactive waste is just a byproduct of this process. When the uranium atom (fuel) gets split, it turns into barium, krypton, and other light periodic elements. Because these waste products are radioactive, they are hazardous. But some of them have a shorter half-life, so they turn into the stable nucleus, and other hot radioactive wastes are removed. However, by proper planning, nuclear waste can be recycled to make new fuel and byproducts.
Ø Why is Thorium better?
I. Because of its stability, Thorium is more abundant than Uranium.
II. There is a safe side of Thorium. Unlike Uranium, it’s not fissile. So, if we bring much Thorium together, it will not split and explode.
III. When a Thorium atom absorbs a neutron, it turns into protactinium-233. As it is an unstable atom, it decays and turns into U-233. After separation from Thorium, this uranium atom can produce energy in its way.
IV. Thorium-based reactors are much safer because the chain reaction can easily be stopped, and the process does not have to take under extreme pressures.
Ø What’s the stand of India?
India could power its entire population with clean energy for more than 1000 years based on just its thorium reserves. But if India has the highest reservoir of Thorium in the whole world, why aren’t we running on nuclear energy?
Here are some possible reasons:
I. People are afraid of nuclear plants because of the horrible accidents at Fukushima in Japan, Chernobyl in Ukraine, and three-mile island in the United States in the last two decades. So, it’s challenging to convince people that nuclear energy is safe and reliable in terms of deaths per year.
II. Thorium is not a fissile element and thus can’t directly undergo fission and produce energy. As discussed earlier, it takes three stages to reach U-235 and then harness the power, which is quite challenging and expensive. However, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is working on the research and development of this area.
III. The third reason can be that Thorium doesn’t produce military-grade products used in nuclear weapons. So, it doesn’t attract our government for funding.
IV. Maybe India lacks the knowledge to build first-stage thorium reactors because it’s a relatively new concept and because India has a massive brain drain.
However, on the other side, nobody but China has built a new Thorium reactor and currently investing in Thorium for future energy sources. China’s reactors will be fluoride salt-based. Those salts will act as a coolant to transport the heat from the reactor.
In the end, we hope that soon, our country, India, will also overcome all its barriers and will be able to harness nuclear energy by building Thorium reactors.
