[EN] A possible new energy source.

Thorium might be what we've been looking for the past few years to save the planet.

According to very important people form CERN (I think some directors, but I'm not sure) thorium has huge energetic potential. Huge means 1 ton of thorium is the equivalent of 200 (yes... two hundred) tons of uranium or 3.5 million tons of coal. That's HUGE. With that energy output, one could power London for one week.

This sound almost perfect, so there should be some catch somewhere? Well let's see abundance. Uranium for example is a pretty rare metal, but thorium is so much, it's annoying. It's considered a waste product when mining, so we have enough. Moreover, uranium has to be processed before usage, but pretty much all thorium out there is a potential power source.

The catch, is about using that power, because the process is not quite simple. In a particle accelerator, when a proton beam hits a chunk of heavy metal (I like the sound of that = )) ), produces excess neutrons. Thorium than absorbs these neutrons and forms uranium-233 which is not found in nature and can release enough energy to power the particle accelerator AND to act as a power plant. The idea needs some refining, but people are hard at work and one company is already working on a design for a proton accelerator.

There's more good news, because this can be deployed everywhere. Nuclear power requires a delicate political process because it can lead to weapon production. No risk of that here though.

Thorium could be the answer we are looking for, for both short term and long term safe power production. Screw dangerous and currently impossible fusion. Postpone slow and renewable energies, work on this dear beloved scientists to get us out of trouble. If we could start making such factories in 6-7 years (where I read said 5...) we just might be able to solve our problems once and for all. Meanwhile, well, we just have to stick to saving energy.