Category Archives: Nuclear Physics
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:
- greater abundance,
- less likelihood of runaway chain reactions that can lead to nuclear disasters
- much shorter half-life for its waste products (therefore minimising waste storage problems)
- 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!
