Tass, the Indians are trialing your suggestion and are experiencing technical difficulties given thorium is fertile and enriched uranium is fissile. And they are combining both products in still unsafe fuel rods.

Yes we used to need a little enriched uranium to get the thing started but now only need a thorium isotope.

Moreover thorium can be used as is, in its natural state, without cost adding enrichment. We could enrich uranium for offshore customers using the locally invented vastly superior pulsed laser light method, to value add an export? Not for us!

And why would you want to go down that path which might also include the possibilities of a weapons spin off. And consequently create an arms race with some powerful neighbors? Lets just not go there!

Better to use spent uranium and get paid billions for dealing with other folks waste and given it can be reprocessed and reprocessed time and again, after someone else has carried the complete cost of enrichment! And be paid annual billions for yonks!

Seems to make more economic sense and a win/win/win outcome? Besides, it is possible to also reprocess Plutonium and in so doing, render it inoperable as fissile material that can be compressed to create a thermonuclear devise.

Leaders need to lead and get The tanking S.A. economy up and running once more. As opposed to creating a new ideas free zone!

And better than taxing banks/further shrinking a tanking econmy!

When just reprocessing other nation's spent fuel rods could earn billions more.

Australian manufacturers and business proprietors will not complain if power prices can descend down through a 3 cent KPH floor! Ditto most pensioners, the disabled and unemployed!
Cheers, Alan B.

Taswegy-mate and Alan B.

The good thing about Thorium reactors is they still allow the Uranium 235 and Plutonium bomb industries to sleep soundly at night.

Countries like India can justify their nuclear (Uranium 235 and/or Plutonium) BOMB making processes because "safe" Thorium reactions require very unsafe Uranium 235 and/or Plutonium inputs.

This is because Uranium 235 or Plutonium, must be added to a Thorium reactor fuel cycle to "achieve criticality".

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle#Disadvantages :)

Cheers

Poida

Oh dear Aspley, is that it?

I'm indifferent to the right of the ALP, Catholics (a Mick myself until seven) or the Shoppies. SA is disconnecting from the Federation and this is a classic example. While the rest of Australia is becoming more secularised, in SA there's a major faction of ALP MPs, which is knocking back legislation on ecclesiastical grounds.

The Church has major legal and reputation problems across the world, so it's highly unusual that we find it operating defacto, through a union and in a state government.

Sorry Pete your thorium science is very dated.

Firstly, thorium now only needs a thorium isotope, thorium 303 to kick start a chain reaction, which can only occur in a molten salt reactor inside the graphite core, given it still needs critical mass to create a chain reaction.

And as the medium flows in and out of the core, that that is outside and circulating inside smaller pipes, ceases to react, for lack of critical mass!

Moreover, the 1950's technology, design features of a molten salt reactor, includes a drainage pipe, where circulating cool air is intensely directed, meaning any shut down of power for any reason! Results automatically, in that fan also stopping, allowing the crystallized salt plug to melt and thereby enabling the entire liquid content to very safely drain into a purpose built reservoir. Where the liquid salt quickly crystallizes! And the reason why its called walk away safe!

Interestingly, solar thermal power plants with a base load capacity, also incorporate, liquid thorium lithium fluoride salt, in the central tower, which seems to be excited by very concentrated sunlight; and the reason it can and does maintain critical base load temperatures for up to a week?

Day or night or during extended cloudy periods. Not too many of those in California or Arizona deserts, nor here in our sun drenched outback!

One can hope no mad scientist decides to include enriched uranium or plutonium in a "Green preferred" solar thermal tower, thus creating your dreaded uranium/plutonium, exploding fertile material, scary scenario! Boom boom! Ha, ha, ha, he, he, he, ho, ho, ho, ho! Oh my aching ribs!

What will they, solar panel installers, with everything to lose, try on next?
Alan B.

As a South Australian, there's a lot of sweeping statements in this article that I neither see actual hard evidence for, or even as on-the-ground observations.

Eg that SA is de-coupling from the Federation ... that a crime and punishment regime is in full swing. It does seem very overblown.