Is Singapore considering Thorium as Nuclear Fuel?

It's been more than a year since Fukushima's nuclear disaster and it's time to take a new look at the possibility of finding a safe way to handle nuclear power. In Guardian.co.uk, thorium has been hailed has a nuclear fuel that is safer to use than uranium. It many advantages include:

  1. greater abundance,
  2. less likelihood of runaway chain reactions that can lead to nuclear disasters
  3. much shorter half-life for its waste products (therefore minimising waste storage problems)
  4. byproducts that are not useful for making nuclear weapons

Research has begun to design new reactors for thorium in India, China, USA and Europe. Perhaps one day, there can be a design for a reactor so small and so safe that it can find its way to Singapore's shores and replace our heavy dependence on fossil fuels.

We might even set a test question on Thorium to celebrate that when it happens!

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