posted on Feb, 18 2014 @ 03:32 PM
reply to post by xuenchen
Early atomic bomb research was based on the use of Thoreum but the more unstable and potentially more explosive Plutonium became the element of
choice once it became obtainable.
So there may be some truth but it would still be radioactive waste and likely requiere far larger ammount's of whatever thorium isotope they used
than the equivelent uranium based reactor and more material means more waste.
That waste may be less radioactive but in far higher quantity's meaning larger waste disposal and more isotope based radio active decay, so at first
glance I do not see the benefit.
Thing with Thorium (232) appart from being named after the Norse God of Thunder and Lightning (quite fitting), is that it's itself a byproduct of
natural occuring Uranium-235. My theory is that once upon a time in Earth history uranium reactors were used to produce O3 and other powerhungry
processes needed for life to emerge and be sustained here, and these relatively high deposits of natural Thorium-232 around the globe are to my belief
ancient deponies of nuclear waste. Atleast some of them, for there seems to be far more Thorium around than what is natural. On Earth there is also
quite vast amounts of natural Deuterium (D or H-2, the D in D2O, heavywater, used in several kinds of reactors) compared to the universe surrounding
us. In seawater there is one D atom per 6,400 H atoms (1:6,400), while in the Milky Way the abundance is only about 23:1,000,000 (or about 1:43,500),
the Sun and Jupiter at about 26:1 million (almost 1:38,500).
Sort of makes me think of there being some kind of intelligent force behind Earth abundance of heavy water Deuterium and Uranium-depleted Thorium. Hey
there are even more than a dozen natural fission reactors in Gabon, West-Central-Africa that were active at the same time the Ozon-layer was formed
and land life emerged from the ocean. Coincidence? I don't think so, my inquisitive mind finds need for this someone, not something-- to "blame and
fame" for life on Earth.
edit on 18-2-2014 by Utnapisjtim because: Deutrium facts