South Africa has some always-interesting columnists that provoke thought for a living. \u00a0One of these is surely Mr. David Gleason who, among other things, writes “TORQUE” for NewsTime once a week. \u00a0His current column, “If it isn’t yours…help yourself” points out that:<\/p>\n
“…a comment by Dipuo Peters, Minister for Energy, saying there was concern about the availability of a supply of enriched uranium \u2013 because it is said the Chinese are taking up increasing quantities of what\u2019s available out of Africa. <\/em><\/p>\n “She has a point. The world\u2019s requirement of uranium in 2009 was about 190 million pounds. But it seems no more than about 110 million pounds was produced from mining. The balance has to come from suitably treated weapons material. So the supply\/demand equation looks seriously out of kilter. But I\u2019ve no doubt that production will rapidly be increased if the price continues to beckon attractively.<\/em><\/p>\n “But the Minister\u2019s comment unlocks another aspect. It is thorium, one of the so-called rare earths, and we have plenty of it. Say thorium to most generally knowledgeable people and they look at you blankly. That\u2019s because thorium fell out of favour because it cannot be converted into bomb material. But thorium fuelled the first nuclear reactors in America and Russia. <\/em><\/p>\n “And thorium has a lot of other things going for it. As I\u2019ve reported, it can\u2019t be pressed into service as a nuclear bomb; it is inherently incapable of causing a meltdown; it doesn\u2019t need to be converted or enriched; it is very energy efficient; its waste lasts for tens of years unlike uranium which hangs around malevolently for thousands; it is much less expensive than uranium extracts and is reasonably environmentally friendly to mine..<\/em>.”<\/p>\n In fact large deposits of thorium are found in Australia Brazil, Canada, Greenland, India, South Africa and the United States. \u00a0In South Africa, for instance, it is commercially feasible to produce a thousand tons of of thorium oxide annually just from the tailings of South Africa’s ongoing mineral-sands projects.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0 Thorium is more abundant than tin<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0The U.S. has enough thorium reserves to last for many thousands of years.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0Readily available thorium in the crust of the earth has an energy value far greater than the energy value of all the available uranium and fossil fuels (coal & oil & wood & Biogas, etc.) on the earth — combined.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0One pound of thorium can produce as much energy as 3 million pounds of coal.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0One ton of thorium consumed as fuel in a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (leaving about .8 tons of spent fuel) \u00a0can produce as much energy as about 250 tons of uranium burned as fuel in a 3rd Generation Light Water Nuclear Reactor (which leaves about 35 tons of spent fuel and 215 tons of depleted u-238 uranium).<\/p>\n \u2022 \u00a0One 3.5″ diameter ball of thorium (about the size of an extra large apple) can produce enough electricity to power the annual consumption of one average American for about 8,000 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa has some always-interesting columnists that provoke thought for a living. \u00a0One of these is surely Mr. David Gleason who, among other things, writes “TORQUE” for NewsTime once a week. \u00a0His current column, “If it isn’t yours…help yourself” points … Continue reading