The thorium nuclear reactor dream – still as far away a fantasy as ever

Thorium nuclear power? go Green instead https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/17600300.letter-thorium-nuclear-power-go-green-instead/ By Bruce Sinclair @WTBruceS, Reporter,Western Telegraph April 17, CHRISTOPHER JESSOP, F Harbud wrote: “With all the letters on green energy appearing in the press, I wonder why there is no mention of the thorium reactors under development?”

When I was reading for my Energy Studies degree at University College Swansea in the late 1970s, the consensus within the nuclear power industry was that the thorium cycle could prove of interest, but a lot of investment would be required to develop a competitive and safe reactor design.

Forty years later, the nuclear power industry appears to be still saying this.

Meanwhile, onshore wind and solar PV are the cheapest means of generating electricity, and they are available NOW.

The climate emergency is so severe, we can’t wait for the future promise of any ‘long-haul’ energy technology, and that includes fusion: when I was a student, fusion was 50 years away from commercialisation, and more than 40 years later it is still 50 years away from commercialisation!