Unlike Uranium, Thorium Can't Be Developed for Nuclear Weapons

Apart from uranium, there is actually another nuclear type that can be used as an energy source, namely thorium. Unlike uranium, thorium does not produce plutonium in the nuclear reaction process.

As a result, thorium cannot be misused for weapons purposes, and is also safe as an energy source.

However, thorium cannot stand alone as a fuel. Thorium requires uranium 235 to be converted to uranium 232 and ready for use as an energy source. So the development of thorium inevitably must first begin with the development of uranium.

The development of thorium as a fuel for power plants actually started in the United States (US) in 1965. The US used thorium in a liquid form called the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR). MSR has been operating for 20,000 hours (4 years) without any problems.

However, the program was discontinued by the US, which preferred uranium because its fission reaction could produce plutonium, which is needed for the development of nuclear weapons.

The use of thorium for energy still takes a long time to come for the next few decades. Research has been carried out in various countries, but there has never been a country that has fully applied it commercially.