Thorium

By Seila I. Slominski

Thorium (Th)

90

Actinide

232.038 u

Element and Symbol

My Element

Atomic Number

Family Name

Average Atomic Mass

Parts of Thorium

# of Protons

# of Neutrons (in Th-232)

# of Electrons

90

142

90

The Discovery

Thorium was discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist, in 1828. Berzelius was given a black mineral sample by Hans Morten Thrane Esmark, a Norwegian mineralogist, that was made up of almost 60% of an undiscovered element. Berzelius named the silver mineral Thorite, and the element Thorium. The root of the two, Thor, was in fact stolen from the Norse god of Thunder and War.

Thorium throughout History

1928

1941

1950’s

1955-1973

2010-2011

Thorium is discovered and named by Jöns Jakob Berzelius.

Thorium's potential for nuclear fuel is proven by Nobel Prize winner Glenn T. Seaborg.

In hopes of utilizing abundant Thorium reserves, Dr. Homi Bhabha, formulates

India’s three-stage nuclear power program.

The use of Thorium in molten salt reactors is researched by Alvin Weinberg, the director of the US Oak Ridge nuclear laboratory, with successful results

Jiang Mianheng announces the Chinese Thorium Energy Program to develop the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor.

—John H. Kutsch

“Thorium is basically garbage, but it might just save the world”

What Kutsch, president of Whole World (a Chicago-area product engineering and design consultancy), said was in reference to the global warming crisis. It is believed that Thorium may be the answer we need, even though it had previously only been used in things such as glass products, non world changing devices.

Pros

Cons

Thorium for Energy

• Three times more abundant than Uranium
• Likely more energy in Thorium than both Uranium and Fossil Fuels combined
• Thorium produces less waste than Uranium
• Would cut down on carbon emissions
• It is safer because it is fertile rather than fissile and would use salt reactors

• Even though the idea of using Thorium for energy has been around since the 1950’s, the technology has not developed enough to prove its benefits
• Researching a whole new energy source is more expensive than most governments care to spend
• Less is known about Thorium than Uranium

Thorium 230

Thorium 232

Thorium Isotopes

Isotope Abundance

0.02%

99.98%

Thorium has no stable isotopes, however the isotopes Thorium 230 and 232 half lives are so long that scientists are able to measure their abundance. All other isotopes of Thorium have a half life of less than eight years, though most are only a matter of milliseconds.

Half Life of Thorium

Like other radioactive elements, Thorium’s half life is an important thing to understand. While it is important, it is very hard to wrap one’s head around. A half life is the time it takes for half of a radioactive element to decay. In Thorium 232’s case, it will decay into, first to Thorium 233 then to Uranium 233. Thorium 232’s half life is 14 billion years. 14 BILLION YEARS. That means that over 80% of the Thorium that was on the Earth when it was created is still here today.

The End

Works Cited

• https://www.livescience.com/39686-facts-about-thorium.html
• https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/thorium.aspx
• https://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i27/Trying-Unleash-Power-Thorium.html
• https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/iso090.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_thorium#:~:text=Thirty%2Done%20radioisotopes%20have%20been,half%2Dlife%20of%201.92%20years.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_thorium#Thorium-232
• https://davidsuzuki.org/story/will-thorium-save-us-from-climate-change/
• https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/90/thorium#:~:text=One%20person%20who%20certainly%20did,Swedish%20chemist%20J%C3%B6ns%20Jacob%20Berzelius.&text=In%201815%2C%20for%20example%2C%20Berzelius,Scandinavian%20god%20of%20thunder%2C%20Thor.
• http://www.thoriumenergyworld.com/thorium.html