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Thorium is a weakly radioactive light silver metal which tarnishes olive grey when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft, malleable, and has a high melting point. Thorium is an electropositive actinide whose chemistry is dominated by the +4 oxidation state; it is quite reactive and can ignite in air when finely ...
Thorium resources are the estimated mineral reserves of thorium on Earth. Thorium is a future potential source of low-carbon energy. [1] Thorium has been demonstrated to perform as a nuclear fuel in several reactor designs. [2] [3] It is present with a higher abundance than uranium in the crust of the earth. Thorium resources have not been ...
A sample of thorium. Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium.A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle [Note 1] —including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear fuel properties, and reduced ...
Monazite contains 2.5% thorium, allanite has 0.1 to 2% thorium and zircon can have up to 0.4% thorium. [2] Thorium-containing minerals occur on all continents. [3] [4] [5] Thorium is several times more abundant in Earth's crust than all isotopes of uranium combined and thorium-232 is several hundred times more abundant than uranium-235. [6]
Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the environment, such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay products, such as radium and radon. [1]
Monazite powder, a rare earth and thorium phosphate mineral, is the primary source of the world's thorium. India's three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by Homi Bhabha, the well-known physicist, in the 1950s to secure the country's long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India.
Thorium has a characteristic terrestrial isotopic composition and thus a standard atomic weight can be given. Thirty-one radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 232 Th, 230 Th with a half-life of 75,380 years, 229 Th with a half-life of 7,917 years, [ 2 ] and 228 Th with a half-life of 1.92 years.
MSRE was a 7.4 MW th test reactor simulating the neutronic "kernel" of a type of epithermal thorium molten salt breeder reactor called the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR). The large (expensive) breeding blanket of thorium salt was omitted in favor of neutron measurements.