The Element
Charlie Earl
Flash back
to Chemistry class and recall the brightly colored Periodic Table hanging on
the wall. Obviously…your agile memory will recall that as you scan the Table
for the Actinides, you begin with 89
Actinium and before you arrive at 91
Protactinium, you will encounter 90
Thorium. Thorium….four times more abundant in the earth than its more
familiar sister element of 92 Uranium. Just
like you and your siblings, they share some commonalities but each has its own
unique properties as well. Among Thorium’s benefits is its capacity for
changing the landscape of energy development. It’s the little element that can
and will open the door for a brighter and more prosperous future for humankind.
From
Wikipedia:
Canada, China, Germany, India, the Netherlands,
the United Kingdom, and the United
States have experimented with using thorium as a substitute nuclear fuel in
nuclear reactors.[2] When compared to uranium, there is a
growing interest in developing a thorium fuel cycle due to its greater safety
benefits, absence of non-fertile isotopes, and its higher occurrence and
availability.[2] India's three stage nuclear
power programme is possibly the most well known and well funded of such
efforts.[3][4]Some might ask if Thorium is safe because of its radioactive properties. Not absolutely but much safer and more prevalent than Uranium. In fact, you might have traces of Thorium on your own property. Comparatively speaking….water is not safe in an absolute sense. There may be dangerous trace elements or one could drown by “overdosing” on good old two-parts Hydrogen to one-part Oxygen (H2O). There is an element of risk involved with Thorium, but there is with any energy resource. Inert objects have little risk and minimal reward. More from Wikipedia:
Thorium is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils; it is three times more abundant than tin in the Earth's crust and is about as common as lead.[62] Soil commonly contains an average of around 6 parts per million (ppm) of thorium.[63] Thorium occurs in several minerals including thorite (ThSiO4), thorianite (ThO2 + UO2) and monazite. Thorianite is a rare mineral and may contain up to about 12% thorium oxide. Monazite contains 2.5% thorium, allanite has 0.1 to 2% thorium and zircon can have up to 0.4% thorium.[64] Thorium-containing minerals occur on all continents.[6][65][66] 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.[
How abundant is Thorium? How broad is the global distribution?
|
Country
|
RAR Th
|
EAR Th
|
|
India
|
519,000
|
21%
|
|
Australia
|
489,000
|
19%
|
|
USA
|
400,000
|
13%
|
|
Turkey
|
344,000
|
11%
|
|
Venezuela
|
302,000
|
10%
|
|
Brazil
|
302,000
|
10%
|
|
Norway
|
132,000
|
4%
|
|
Egypt
|
100,000
|
3%
|
|
Russia
|
75,000
|
2%
|
|
Greenland
|
54,000
|
2%
|
|
Canada
|
44,000
|
2%
|
|
South Africa
|
18,000
|
1%
|
|
"Other countries"
|
33,000
|
2%
|
|
"World total"
|
2,810,000
|
|
The Lemhi Pass, along the Idaho-Montana border, has one of the world's largest known high quality thorium deposits. Thorium Energy, Inc. has the mineral rights to approximately 1360 acres (5.5 sq km) of it and states that they have proven thorium oxide reserves of 600 thousand tons and probable reserves of an additional 1.8 million tons within their claim.[78]
As you may have noted by now, the Element 90Thorium could be an element of surprise for providing energy to fuel prosperity. Is it possible to safely and efficiently convert this readily-available resource into a reliable energy source? Our next column will focus on the phenomenal benefits of LFTR technology. It can transform our conservations about energy for decades to come. Once again, if you desire more information, I urge you to visit these websites.
Energy From Thorium Foundation: www.th90.org
Coalition of Freedom: www.coalitionoffreedom.com
Finally, here are some podcasts with people involved in the Thorium/LFTR educational movement.
Don Larson 12-27-12.mp3 (file://CHARLIE-PC/Users/Charlie/Downloads/Don%20Larson%2012-27-12.mp3)
Dr. Robert Hargraves
Monday’s column will examine the
efficiency and safety aspects of LFTR technology.
Charlie Earl
cearlwriting@hotmail.com
cearlliberty@gmail.com
http://thelibertylegation.blogspot.com
www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com
 |
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