Indias necessity is to develop thorium based nuclear technology, which is in abundance in India, and then india does not need to rely on Australia or Europe for Uranium. They have to run indo-us nuclear tie just as an alternative and watch what China and pakistan are doing at the same time. It is preity sure once India will resolve its Energy problem then all the world economy turns into Indias hand and its a big threat for China. See basic difference from one Nation to other from one age to other is how they have learn and untlize the natural resources into energy. In stone age people learnt to make fire(Heat Energy) and Wheel(KE) So that they entered into new age of civilzed world, In the same west learnt early then us the proper use of coal and petrol and entered into Industrial Revolution, Thats why we are little behind them and country who will discover some alternative resource sure that will be a front runner. At present we have learn only 1% to make a proper use of energy and still we are learning how to make use of all natural resources of earth, then we will enter into next age How to use the our galaxy resources and finally we will able to utilze the universe resources and that will be the time when people will live on other planets. This is all physics.
RE:India discover it to rule on world
by Vishnu Sharma on Aug 19, 2007 08:18 AM Permalink
Thorium, as well as uranium and plutonium, can be used as fuel in a nuclear reactor. Although not fissile itself, 232Th will absorb slow neutrons to produce uranium-233 (233U), which is fissile. Hence, like 238U, it is fertile. In one significant respect 233U is better than the other two fissile isotopes used for nuclear fuel, 235U and plutonium-239 (239Pu), because of its higher neutron yield per neutron absorbed. Given a start with some other fissile material (235U or 239Pu), a breeding cycle similar to, but more efficient than that currently possible with the 238U-to-239Pu cycle (in slow-neutron reactors), can be set up. The 232Th absorbs a neutron to become 233Th which normally decays to protactinium-233 (233Pa) and then 233U. The irradiated fuel can then be unloaded from the reactor, the 233U separated from the thorium (a relatively simple process since it involves chemical instead of isotopic separation), and fed back into another reactor as part of a closed nuclear fuel cycle.
Problems include the high cost of fuel fabrication due partly to the high radioactivity of 233U which is a result of its contamination with traces of the short-lived 232U; the similar problems in recycling thorium due to highly radioactive 228Th; some weapons proliferation risk of 233U; and the technical problems (not yet satisfactorily solved) in reprocessing. Much development work is still required before the thorium fuel cycle can be commercialised, and the effort required seems unlikely whil
