Thorium, a slightly radioactive metal that occurs in rocks and soils, may hold significant promise as a replacement for uranium in the nuclear energy sector.As global energy consumption increases, thorium is being looked into as a possible alternative to uranium to provide safe and abundant nuclear power at a reasonable cost. For example, India has been interested in thorium-based nuclear energy for decades, according to the US Geological Survey. The question of whether thorium works for energy production was answered in 2013, when a private Norwegian company, Thor Energy, began to produce power at its Halden test reactor in Norway using thorium. Nuclear giant Westinghouse, a unit of Toshiba, is part of an international consortium that Thor Energy established to fund and manage the experiments.
As part of its ongoing research into thorium as a nuclear fuel, Thor Energy created an international consortium that is charged with funding and managing thorium experiments. One of the consortium members is none other than Westinghouse, an established player in nuclear energy, and the company provides viewpoints on the research.
But Thor Energy is not the only company engaged in researching whether or not thorium is a viable alternative to uranium in nuclear energy. Firms from the US, Australia and the Czech Republic are also working on thorium reactor designs and other elements of fuel technology using the metal. However, Thor Energy was the first off the block to begin energy production with thorium.
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