Nuclear energy is undergoing a remarkable transformation globally, fuelled by the urgent need for decarbonisation and energy security. At the heart of this revolution are Small Modular technologies—compact, scalable, and inherently safer systems designed to produce reliable, low-carbon power. Among these, the use of Thorium as a nuclear fuel is gaining renewed attention for its unique advantages and potential to reshape how we generate energy.
Why Thorium?
Thorium is a fertile element that, when irradiated, breeds fissile uranium-233. It is more abundant than uranium, with reserves spread worldwide, making it a sustainable and long-term energy resource. The Thorium fuel cycle offers several key benefits:
Reduced long-lived radioactive waste: Thorium produces significantly less high-level waste compared to traditional uranium fuel cycles, and the waste it does produce decays to safe levels in a few hundred years rather than thousands.
Enhanced proliferation resistance: The uranium-233 bred from Thorium is difficult if not impossible to weaponize, improving nuclear security.
High fuel utilization and thermal efficiency: Operating at high temperatures allows for more efficient power conversion, such as through closed-cycle gas turbines.
One of the most promising innovations harnessing Thorium is the concept of Liquid Fission Thorium Burners (LTFBs). These systems use a liquid fuel form—molten salts containing Thorium and fissile material—that circulates continuously through the system. This liquid fuel approach offers transformative advantages:
Continuous fuel reprocessing: Unlike solid fuel, liquid fuel can be chemically processed on the fly to remove fission products and optimise fuel composition, enabling near-complete utilisation of Thorium.
Inherent safety: The liquid fuel’s high boiling point and low pressure operation reduce the risk of meltdown. If the system overheats, the fuel can be drained into safe storage tanks, automatically shutting down the reaction.
Higher operating temperatures: The molten salt medium allows operation at temperatures around 700°C or higher, improving thermal efficiency and reducing cooling requirements.
A well-known example of an LTFB concept is the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Burner (a variant of the LFTR design), which uses a two-fluid system—one fluid containing fissile uranium and the other containing fertile Thorium. Neutrons from fission in the uranium fluid convert Thorium in the blanket fluid into new fissile uranium-233, which is then cycled back to sustain the reaction.
Global Momentum for Thorium and Small Modular Technologies
Several countries and companies are leading the charge in developing LTFBs and related small modular systems fuelled by Thorium:
India continues to advance its Thorium program with the Advanced Heavy Water Burner designed to utilise Thorium-uranium fuel cycles.
China is pioneering molten salt LTFB prototypes, including a 2 MW thermal unit with plans for scale-up to commercial sizes.
Denmark’s Copenhagen Atomics is developing compact molten salt burners with ambitions for mass manufacturing by the 2030s.
Startups in the US and Europe such as Moltex and Terrestrial Energy are innovating molten salt small modular designs adaptable to Thorium fuel.
Why Small Modular?
Small Modular technologies offer several advantages that complement the use of Thorium:
Modular factory fabrication reduces construction time and costs.
Passive safety systems enhance operational safety without complex active controls.
Smaller footprint makes them suitable for remote or smaller grids.
Scalability allows incremental deployment aligned with demand growth.
Challenges and the Road Ahead
Despite the promise, deploying LTFBs and Thorium-based small modular systems faces hurdles:
Fuel cycle complexity: Starting the reaction requires an initial fissile load such as uranium-235 or plutonium.
Regulatory frameworks: Most current nuclear regulations are designed around uranium solid-fuel systems, requiring adaptation for liquid-fuelled Thorium systems.
Industrial experience: Operational data for Thorium-fuelled molten salt systems is still limited compared to conventional reactors.
However, with growing government support, international collaboration, and private sector innovation, these challenges are being actively addressed.
Wrapping Up
Liquid Fission Thorium Burners represent a paradigm shift in nuclear energy—combining the abundance and safety benefits of Thorium with the flexibility and scalability of small modular technology. Over the next five years, we expect to see the first grid-connected small modular systems and pilot LTFBs come online, marking a new chapter in sustainable, low-carbon energy production.
Post created by Jeremiah Josey and the team at The Thorium Network
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease(PD) aged 77, Dr. Hans G. Borgensberger became part of the million or so people in the US living with what is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. Like the close to 90,000 who are newly diagnosed every year, this could have spelled limitations and a decline in physical ability as was the case with the legendary Mohammed Ali.
Mohammed Ali
Dr. Hans Borgensberger
But Dr. Borgensberger, with a distinguished career in nuclear physics, wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.
Reading through his own record of the steps he took to orient his journey with PD towards a specific trajectory, it is quickly apparent that his is a lot more than a narration of a medical journey debunking what was supposed to be established consensus on PD. It is an unexpected source of inspiration for the many young scientists graduating out of the safety offered by classrooms and labs and venturing forth exposed to dizzying world academia or the even more precarious one of industry. It is particularly inspirational for those of us from developing countries who have made the trip back at home after decades abroad and now keen to apply what we’ve learned all these years to solve the problems we see around us.
Dr. Hans Borgensberger
Dr. Borgensberger’s approach is a masterclass in perseverance. “Perseverance” is a word that has always sent me on a tangent of nostalgia. “Perseverance Shall win through” is the motto at Maseno School, one of the first academic institutions to be set up in Kenya by European missionaries in the previous century. All Maseno boys through-out the ages, I included, would recite the words every Monday morning during the Start of the Week assembly. The motto is a rallying call that all the notable names in governance, academia and sports in East Africa that passed through Maseno School’s gates made. This includes the Late Barrack Obama Snr whose son was once the president of the United States of America.
Dr. Borgensberger describes how he defied the boundaries set for those with his condition, taking up and thriving in new physical activities like fencing and skiing – activities that most wouldn’t dare attempt with PD. This adventurous and questioning spirit was once considered a very valuable asset in the early days of nuclear science and engineering. There were entire plethora of attempts at what back then were definitely exotic designs aimed at harnessing fission. Just as Dr. Borgensberger has dared to explore unconventional but safe ways to improve his condition, researchers back then did not hesitate to push the boundaries by looking into advanced reactor designs and alternative fuels. It was a golden age that youngsters like myself hope will comeback as anthropogenic climate change bears its sharp teeth.
There is a lot more to Dr. Borgensberger’s story than just his physical feats. That he was able to maintain his genuine curiosity at such an advanced age is equally inspiring. Most of us allow the curiosity that guided us in our early years to be attenuated by the vicissitudes of everyday living as soon as we have bills to pay. Though I am certain there are many who will rank Dr. Borgensberger’s fascination with Quantum entangled particles and his theorizing a connection to his own improvement as science fiction, it is all still quite remarkable.
The thirst for knowledge, understanding and the willingness to question established ideas which imbues Dr. Borgensberger journey, has always been the cornerstone of scientific progress. With academia steadily degenerating into a “who has published more papers” contest, his is a reminder that breakthroughs and deep understanding of the universe around us has often come from those who dare to look beyond the norm. In nuclear science and engineering safety will always be the guiding principle, but as Dr. Borgensberger’s has shown, that should not come at the cost of trying out new ideas and approaches that, of course, must be rigorously tested and validated. The ongoing debate between the champions of the Linear No-Threshold model of the effects of radiation at low doses and the proponents of the Sigmoid No-Threshold model of the same is an excellent place to do exactly that.
Dr. Borgensberger’s narration of the many remarkable people he worked with at varying stages of their careers is also a testament to the power that teamwork has in scientific endeavors. This cannot be reiterated enough in places like Kenya, for example, where rather than fostering teamwork and camaraderie among our young scientists, professional bodies have over the years encouraged pointless competition whose effects are apparent everywhere you look. Regulatory bodies, like the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK), have mutated into gatekeeping panels of egotistical senior citizens who probably need time machines to travel to the present.
There is a clear and frankly speaking shocking chasm that has emerged where instead of having a spectrum, we have a polarised practice that has so called “Baby boomers” at one end and my generation of newly minted researchers and engineers at the other. The vacuum in between is partly a consequence of EBK allowing itself to ossify by being dismissive of the reinvigoration that comes with the introduction of youthful energy into any context . The proof of this is the current bizarre state of affairs where it is possible for someone like I for example to graduate with advanced degrees in fields like nuclear and quantum engineering from universities all ranked in the top 100 globally, and still find that neither the courses I have taken nor the universities are accredited by the locals. We can learn a lot from the camaraderie between Dr. Borgensberger and his buddies. When colleagues, regardless of seniority and status collaborate with each other it is only a matter of time before a spark ignites a groundbreaking discovery.
Dr. Hans G. Borgensberger’s story may not directly offer a direct blueprint for the development of safer nuclear reactors. But the spirit he embodies – that of determination, curiosity, and a willingness to explore the unconventional, all within the framework of sound verifiable science – is an inspiration for all of us in the new generation keen to take the button. It’s this kind of inquisitive and persistent mindset that can lead to the next big breakthrough in the nuclear field, paving the way for a safer, brighter and more prosperous future for all.
Post Created by Jeremiah Josey and the team at The Thorium Network
When I encountered the book Unintended Consequences1 by the recently departed Dr. George Erickson, I had long since abandoned a belief that I had held to be the gospel truth. Growing up in Nairobi, Kenya and seeing how stochastic everyday life was, I was conditioned to invest my faith and emotions in other stuff that I hoped would be a bit more consistent and impeccable than the seemingly random occurrences that seem dictate life in a country like Kenya; one that was perched atop a solid foundation. As a young impressionable kid just beginning the long trudge towards an education, the answer back then was “Science” – or rather what I thought was “science.” It had, after all, been presented to me as an impartial evidence-based approach that our species had settled upon as the tool to probe and extract information from the universe around us. I embraced it all with relish.
A series of events culminated in me ending up a student at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), an environment where “science” was not just being consumed, but also being “made.” One of the things that come with travelling in pursuit of education is that you pick up certain cultural subtleties on top of the technical knowledge that sends us there in the first place. Most of what you pick tends to be benign; how to not leave the lab before the professor does and such. Others tend to leave an indelible mark on you. In my case, this was the realization that rather than being impartial, science was yet another human activity done by humans, and left unchecked, it had the potential to reflect everything it means to be human; the strengths and indeed more worrying, our flaws.
The first alarm bell sounded when I learned that Korean society had “optimized and localized” regulations governing radiation exposure. This struck me as rather bizarre since it implied that scientific “fact” was parochial in nature; that scientific facts could shift depending on who was interpreting them and from where. A bit of a tangent, trying to quell the unease led me to the heated yet messy debate on dose limits that had apparently been raging on for decades within the nuclear industry. I couldn’t fathom why an issue that ought to have been straightforward saw different national entities looking at the same data and coming to wildly differing conclusions. A very gentle scratch of the surface trying to figure things out led me to the infamous Linear Non-Threshold (LNT) model that even to this day refuses to go away regardless of how much updated data, common sense and logic are thrown at it.
A must-read on the topic was obviously “Unintended Consequences” by the late Dr. George Erickson who deserves recognition for his passionate advocacy of not just nuclear power, but also particularly Liquid fission thorium-based reactors that showed a lot of promise in the golden era of nuclear engineering when innovative designs seemed popping out of thin air.
Read together with “Why Nuclear has been a Flop”2 by Jack Devanney of Thorcon International, the two are primers on how not to handle new cutting-edge technology like nuclear and reveal how it was possible for scientific mischief by a handful of individuals could wipe out the 500,000:1 advantage that nuclear power was projected to have compared to other technologies.
It is always fun to read a book. It is even more intriguing to read about the author. A man of varied accomplishments – dentist, bush pilot, and author – Dr Erickson made the decision to dedicate his life to promoting safe, clean energy solutions in a way that, as I looked up his work, resonates very deeply with me. Reading “Unintended Consequences” posthumously I found him answering questions I had long before I was even aware of them. He challenged the prevailing ideas about the excesses that have followed the adoption of Hermann Muller’s LNT model and laid bare the dire consequences that have followed. From the crippling energy poverty that continues to afflict the vast majority of the people on this planet to the very real threat of runaway climate change extinguishing the flames of our civilization, Dr Erickson doesn’t mince his words.
Dr. George Erickson, RIP
Dr. Erickson was a proponent of a scientific approach to safety. Like the other visionaries of his time, he championed the use of thorium as a superior alternative to traditional finite and clunky uranium. He argued for its efficiency, environmental benefits, and reduced proliferation risks. He was a voice of reason in the often-charged debate where catchphrases are brandished as counterarguments against the use of nuclear to rescue our civilization from the brink of runaway climate change. His writing style and wordplay do an excellent job of bridging the gap between scientific and public discourse.
Though I only discovered his work posthumously, the more I read about the man, the more I appreciate his indelible mark on nuclear discourse. It is a legacy that relatively young fellas like testing the waters as we try to build careers, can learn a lot from.
The best way to ensure that the Late Dr George Erickson’s legacy lives on is to do what he dedicated a significant portion of his life to; keep asking the questions that need answers. Few things would better celebrate his memory than continuing the pursuit of a fact-based approach to addressing the questions that will come as the effects of climate change start to bite. Only then will we stand a chance at addressing what Jack Devanney aptly refers to as “The Gordian knot of our time.”
May the light that Dr George Erickson has cast on this issue and others, keep guiding those of us keen to take up the mantle of spreading the gospel of nuclear power to every corner of our planet.
The event that is collectively known as “Chernobyl” was little more than a minor industrial accident. However 37 years after the incident it is still labelled as a “catastrophe”. Why is that?
What catastrophe? The only catastrophe of that particular event was other countries sticking their noses into the internal affairs of other sovereign nations. Something that seems to be a daily preoccupation.
Imagine the scene: a phone rings. Someone answers…
Caller – “um, mister USSR person, we have detected radiation at our facility so we’re checking if anything has happened over your way”.
Response – “No. Mind your own business”.
Caller – “Please tell us, we’re scared”.
Response – “Sorry we forgot that you have this insane aversion to a perfectly good source of energy. Yes, one of our power stations blew up. What’s the problem?”.
Caller – “But our cows in Sweden now glow in the dark”.
Response – “Really? Have you checked? Sorry we can’t help your lack of critical thinking. Call me in 37 years and let’s discuss then”.
Caller – “But…”.
‘Click’. Responder hangs up.
There is no call back.
You can now take Chernobyl tours. The wildlife is thriving. Reactors 1, 2 and 3 continued to operate after #4 went offline and they went on to provide enough energy for 2,000,000 homes or about 5,000,000 people.
Based on the work of Harvard, this saved the lives of about 6,000 people every year from the clean air that Chernobyl provided after the incident.
When Reactor 4 imploded and in the cleanup efforts only 31 people perished. In the 37 years since, the collective “we” struggle to find any evidence of trans-national transgressions. Even local ones.
Chernobyl Bore
The once famed Chernobyl Tissue Bank, previously housed at the prestigious Imperial College in London and led by former antinuclear but now pronuclear advocate, Professor Geraldine Thomas found nothing. George Monbiot – once a leading Greenpeace member and their biggest anti-nuclear spokesman – interviewed Professor Thomas for a planned hit piece on Chernobyl. Two weeks after the interview – and following getting the Chernobyl data – he dropped out of Greenpeace decrying the obvious fraudulent activities of Greenpeace against nuclear energy. Mr. Monbiot has been a strong pro-nuclear advocate ever since.
Chernobyl Wolves
Professor Thomas has since stepped aside as head of the Chernobyl Tissue Bank and the think tank has moved from Imperial College, UK to Maryland, USA. It is now under the control of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) – obviously an independent body. Previously the Chernobyl Tissue Bank presented factual studies, data, evidence and its management structure clearly. Now it’s merely a mouthpiece of the Organised Opposition to nuclear power energy with its management hidden behind a series of “committees and panels”.
Chernobyl Pheasant
The Chernobyl “story” as a catastrophe is a farce by any account of reasonable and rational introspection. It is still being milked by the organised opposition to scare people away from secure, reliable Fission energy, because that opposition has so much to lose. Much like the well managed – though media bashed – release of cooling water in Fukushima happening now on the other side of the planet. There is no issue there either.
Chernobyl Pigs Roaming Free
Here are some real catastrophes still happening every day:
8.5 million people perishing every year due to burning of fossil fuels (PM2.5, NOX and CO) Recent Harvard work explains this.
8 million people each year from smoking cigarettes (a hazard something known for 100 years. Even women where tricked into smoking in a clever psychological spin using feminism as its leverage).
1.35 million people perish each year due to road accidents. Is there a fatal flaw in our society’s makeup – or our minds – to accept that?
500 million deaths and incapacitations in total (including IQ loss) from the fossil fuel industry’s saving compound tetraethyllead (TEL). Little tip. TEL is still being used today. Don’t hang around private airfields if you want your kids to grow up smart.
Chernobyl Buffalo
As for industry catastrophes, here are some real ones. No nuclear anywhere.
Failure of Banqiao Dam and 60 Other Dams, China (1975): An estimated 240,000 deaths.
Amphitheatre Collapse, Italy (AD 27): Over 20,000 deaths.
Machchhu Dam Failure, India (1979): 10,000 deaths.
Benxihu Colliery Explosion, China (1942): 1,549 deaths.
Rana Plaza Collapse, Bangladesh (2013): 1,134 deaths.
Courrières Mine Disaster, France (1906): 1,099 deaths.
Mitsubishi Hōjō Coal Mine Disaster, Japan (1914): 687 deaths.
Chernobyl Mink Safe From Humans
The Russian’s-those operating Chernobyl-didn’t think much of sharing the news of losing one of their power plants. Because it frankly wasn’t anybody’s business. They weren’t hiding anything. Even 37 years later we search and search for the numbers to quantify the qualification of “a catastrophe”.
Chernobyl Power Plant – 6,000 Lives Saved Every Year
But the search continues in vain. Ironically the same can be said for so-called radiation deaths from the purposeful bombing of Japan by the USA in 1945 using nuclear weapons. Massive fire and heat killed thousands of women and children. But radiation incorrectly takes the blame.
Signs for Humans Not Animals
So, fancy a bit of midweek popcorn entertainment. Dial up Chernobyl on HBO and let the fantasy take you away from your real concerns. The ones we seem to want to simply ignore.
A photo taken on January 22, 2016 shows wild Przewalski’s horses on a snow covered field in the Chernobyl exclusions zone.
In 1990, a handful of endangered Przewalski’s (Dzungarian) horses were brought in the exclusions zone to see if they would take root. They did so with relish, and about a hundred of them now graze the empty but sustenant fields. Przewalski’s horses are the last surviving subspecies of wild horse. / AFP / GENYA SAVILOV (Photo credit should read GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images)
For a sobering reminder of the perils of modern human society you can review these lists. Humans learn from mistakes.
Tarih boyunca devrim niteliğinde buluşlarıyla çok sayıda kadın insanlığın gelişimine katkı sağlayan sayısız başarıya imza atarken, bu başarıların çoğu gölgede kaldı. Bilim, teknoloji, mühendislik ve matematik alanlarında çalışan kadınlara yönelik asırlardır var olan ve Einstein’ın “atom çekirdeğini parçalamaktan daha zordur” dediği ön yargıların da bunda etkisi büyük oldu. Yaşadıkları dönemin önüne geçmeyi başaran bilim kadınları ise halen günümüze ışık olmaya devam ediyorlar. Radyolojiden kanser tedavilerinde kullanılan radyoterapiye kadar çok sayıda alanın temelini oluşturan, iki Nobel ödüllü Polonya asıllı Kimyager ve Fizikçi Marie Curie, nükleer füzyon konusundaki buluşları ile tarihe geçmeyi başaran Avusturyalı Fizikçi Lise Meitner, nükleer endüstriye kazandırdığı teknolojilerle ‘elementlere hükmeden kadın’ diye tanımlanan Rus nükleer fizikçi Zinaida Yerşova nükleer alanda ‘ilham kaynağı’ olan önemli isimler.
While many women have achieved countless successes that have contributed to the development of humanity with their revolutionary inventions throughout history, most of these successes have been overshadowed. The prejudices against women working in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, which have existed for centuries and that Einstein said “it is harder than splitting the atomic nucleus”, had a great effect on this. The women of science who managed to get ahead of the period they lived in still continue to be the light of today. Two Nobel laureates, Polish-born Chemist and Physicist Marie Curie, which forms the basis of many fields from radiology to radiotherapy used in cancer treatments, Austrian Physicist Lise Meitner, who managed to go down in history with her discoveries on nuclear fusion, Russian nuclear physicist who is defined as “the woman who rules the elements” with the technologies she brought to the nuclear industry. Zinaida Yerşova is an important name in the nuclear field who is an ‘inspiration’.
Zorlu koşullara göğüs gererek, inandığı şeyden vazgeçmeyen cesur ve güçlü kadınların ‘yaşanabilir bir dünya için’ mücadeleleri bugün de devam ediyor. Ancak, hem ortaöğretim hem de yükseköğretimde kadın sayısındaki artışlara rağmen, halen “STEM” adı verilen bilim, teknoloji, mühendislik ve matematik alanlarında yeterince temsil edilmiyorlar. Uluslararası Atom Enerjisi Ajansı’na (IAEA) göre gençler meslek seçimi yaparken, toplumun bir bilim insanının neye benzediğine dair klişe bakış açılarından ve önyargılarından çok etkileniyorlar. Özellikle nükleer alanda rol modellerin, gençlerin tercihinde önemli rol oynadığına dikkat çekiliyor. Türkiye’de de son yıllarda başarılı bilim kadınları, ilham veren hikâyeleri ve yürüttükleri projelerle pek çok gence ilham kaynağı oluyorlar. Radyolojiden çevreye, sağlıktan tarıma, güvenlikten iklim değişikliğine kadar farklı alanlarındaki örnek çalışmalarıyla nükleere yönelik mitlerin ve ön yargıların önüne geçmeyi de başarıyorlar.
THE ROLE OF ROLE MODELS
The struggle of brave and strong women, who do not give up on what they believe in by enduring difficult conditions, continues today for a livable world. However, despite the increases in the number of women in both secondary and higher education, they are still underrepresented in the so-called “STEM” fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), when choosing a career, young people are influenced by society’s stereotypical viewpoints and prejudices about what a scientist looks like. It is noted that role models, especially in the nuclear field, play an important role in the choice of young people. In recent years, successful women scientists in Turkey have been a source of inspiration for many young people with their inspiring stories and projects. With their exemplary work in different fields from radiology to the environment, from health to agriculture, from security to climate change, they also succeed in preventing myths and prejudices about nuclear.
Avrupa Nükleer Araştırma Merkezi CERN’de önemli çalışmalara imza atan, uzay radyasyonu ve uzay fiziği konularında uluslararası başarılara sahip, “Dünyanın bilime, bilimin kadınlara ihtiyacı var” mottosu ile verilen ‘Uluslararası UNESCO Yükselen Yetenek Ödülü’nü 2017 yılında alan Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz, önemli rol modellerden biri. Türkiye’nin ilk ‘Parçacık Radyasyonu Test Altyapısı Projesi’ şu anda onun liderliğinde sürdürülüyor. Demirköz, bir yandan da gençleri bilim dünyasına teşvik edecek projelere katılıyor, konferanslar veriyor, sergiler düzenliyor. Demirköz, kadınları bilime teşvik etmenin önemini şöyle anlatıyor: “Dünyanın yükleri ve problemleri artıyor. Bu problemleri çözmek için güce ihtiyacımız var. Bu gücün yüzde 50’sini kadınlar oluşturuyor. Küreselleşen dünyada ise kadının geride kaldığı toplumlar gelişemez. Bu nedenle hem problemleri hep birlikte çözmek hem de kadınların gelişimini desteklemek için kadınları bilime daha çok teşvik etmeliyiz.”
COMMON FIGHTING FOR PROBLEMS
Having carried out important studies at the European Nuclear Research Center, CERN, having international achievements in space radiation and space physics, and receiving the “International UNESCO Emerging Talent Award” in 2017, given with the motto “The world needs science and science needs women”, Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz is one of the important role models. Turkey’s first ‘Particle Radiation Test Infrastructure Project’ is currently under his leadership. Demirkoz also participates in projects that will encourage young people to the world of science, gives conferences and organizes exhibitions. Demirköz explains the importance of encouraging women to science as follows: “The burdens and problems of the world are increasing. We need power to solve these problems. Women make up 50 percent of this power. In the globalizing world, societies where women are left behind cannot develop. For this reason, we should encourage women to science more, both to solve problems together and to support the development of women.”
“The world needs science and science needs women.”
Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz, Ankara, Turkey
“The world needs science and science needs women” – Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz,, Ankara, Turkey
TÜM DÜNYADA BİTKİLERDE VERİM ARTIŞI
Türkiye’de yürüttüğü sayısız başarılı tarım projesinin ardından IAEA’da Nükleer Bilimler ve Uygulamalar Bölümü’nde ‘Bitki Islahçısı ve Genetikçi’ olarak çalışan Türk bilim insanı Ziraat Mühendisi Fatma Sarsu, ‘rol model’ kadınlardan biri. Sarsu, IAEA’nın sitesinde çok sayıda gence ilham verecek hikâyesini şöyle anlatıyor: “Babamın çiftliğinde büyüdüm. Onun ekinlerine duyduğu sevgiyi, onlara nasıl baktığını izlemek beni tarımda çalışmaya ikna etti. Ürün ve mutasyon ıslahını incelemek, mahsul verimliliğini nasıl artıracağımızı öğrenmenin en hızlı yolu olarak ortaya çıktı. IAEA’da bitki ıslahı ve genetiği üzerinde çalışmak, tüm dünyada tarım ürünleri verimliliğini artırmak gibi daha da büyük bir çiftlik verdi bana. Her gün profesyonel bir tarım bilimcisi olarak insanlığın yararına çalıştığımı bilmek bana büyük mutluluk veriyor.”
INCREASED PRODUCTION OF PLANTS ALL OVER THE WORLD
Agricultural Engineer Fatma Sarsu, a Turkish scientist working as a ‘Plant Breeder and Geneticist’ in the Nuclear Sciences and Applications Department of the IAEA, after numerous successful agricultural projects she carried out in Turkey, is one of the ‘role model’ women. Sarsu tells his story that will inspire many young people on the IAEA website: “I grew up on my father’s farm. Watching his love for his crops and how he looked after them convinced me to work in agriculture. Studying crop and mutation breeding has emerged as the fastest way to learn how to increase crop productivity. Working on plant breeding and genetics at the IAEA has given me an even bigger farm to increase crop productivity around the world. It gives me great pleasure to know that every day I work for the benefit of humanity as a professional agronomist.”
Türkiye’nin çeşitli dönemlerdeki nükleer teknoloji transferi ve nükleer santral kurma hazırlık süreçlerine yakından tanıklık eden Türkiye’de “Nükleer Alanda Kadınlar” (NÜKAD) olarak bilinen, “WIN (Women in Nuclear) Global Turkey” Grubu’nun kurucusu ve Başkanı olan B. Gül Göktepe de nükleer alanın öncü isimlerinden. Çekmece Nükleer Araştırma Merkezi için geliştirdiği Göl Projesi, Birleşmiş Milletler (BM) ve Uluslararası Atom Enerjisi Ajansı’nın (IAEA) en başarılı teknik işbirliği projeleri arasında gösterilen “Karadeniz’in Çevresel Yönetimi” gibi dikkat çeken çevre projelerine imza attı. BM Viyana Daimi Temsilciliği’nde Türkiye’nin ilk kadın Nükleer Ataşesi olarak görev yaptı. “Nükleer alanda çalışmak büyüleyici olduğu kadar zordur da” ifadelerini kullanan Göktepe, “Yaşamı iyileştirmek ve gezegeni korumak gibi büyük sorumluluk taşıyoruz. Ve bu sektörde başarılı olmanın sırrı, tutkulu olmak! Nükleerde kadın sayımız gün geçtikçe artacak, buna inanıyorum. Yapacak çok işimiz var ve dünyanın bize ihtiyacı var!” diyor.
LIFE IMPROVEMENT RESPONSIBILITY
Witnessing Turkey’s nuclear technology transfer and nuclear power plant preparation processes in various periods, Gül Göktepe., the founder and President of the “WIN (Women in Nuclear) Global Turkey” Group, known as “Women in the Nuclear Field” (NÜKAD) in Turkey. Gül Göktepe is one of the leading names in the nuclear field. She undersigned remarkable environmental projects such as the Lake Project she developed for the Çekmece Nuclear Research Center and the “Environmental Management of the Black Sea”, which is shown as one of the most successful technical cooperation projects of the United Nations (UN) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). She served as Turkey’s first female Nuclear Attaché at the UN Vienna Permanent Mission. Göktepe said, “Working in the nuclear field is as challenging as it is fascinating” and said, “We have a great responsibility to improve life and protect the planet. And the secret to success in this industry is to be passionate! I believe that the number of women in nuclear will increase day by day. We have a lot of work to do and the world needs us!” she says.
AKKUYU GİBİ UZUN İNCE BİR YOL
Hayat hikâyesini “Türkiye’nin Akkuyu hikâyesi gibi zorluklarla dolu, çok uzun ve ince bir yol” olarak tanımlayan Göktepe, İngiltere’de atom mühendisliği okuduğunu, ülkeye dönüşünde katıldığı enerji kongresinde, dönemin Enerji ve Tabii Kaynaklar Bakanının ‘600 MW gücündeki ilk nükleer santralin Akkuyu’da kurulacağı ve 1986 yılında işletmeye alınacağı müjdesi’ ile sektöre umutla adım attığını söylüyor. “O kongreden bu yana nerdeyse 44 yıl geçmiş. Düşünüyorum da o zamandan bu yana nükleerde dünya nerede, biz neredeyiz” diyen Göktepe, Türkiye’nin nükleer santral hikâyesini ise şu sözlerle özetliyor: “Türkiye’nin ilk nükleer santrali Akkuyu Nükleer Santrali projesinde geçmişte öngörülemeyen zorluklar, ertelemeler yaşandı. Şimdi, ne mutlu ki inşaatı tüm hızıyla sürüyor. Kafamda bunca yıllık zorlu mücadeleden sonra değişmeyen bir tek olgu var. O da nükleer teknolojinin dünyanın ve Türkiye’nin geleceği için vazgeçilemez olduğu. Şu anda dünyanın geleceğini tehdit eden en büyük tehlike; iklim değişikliği. Sera gazı emisyonlarını azaltmak için karbonsuz elektrik üretimine ihtiyaç var. O da yenilenebilir enerji, nükleer santraller ve karbon yakalama ve depolamalı fosil yakıtlar (carbon capture and storage-CCS) olmak üzere sadece üç yoldan elde edilebiliyor.”
A LONG THIN ROAD LIKE AKKUYU
Defining her life story as “a very long and narrow road full of difficulties, like Turkey’s Akkuyu story”, Göktepe said that she studied atomic engineering in England, and that she attended the energy congress on her return to the country, and that the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the time said that the first nuclear power plant with 600 MW power was Akkuyu. She says that she stepped into the sector with hope with the good news that it will be established in ‘Turkey and will be put into operation in 1986’. “It has been almost 44 years since that congress. Goktepe, who says, “Where are we and where are we in the nuclear field since then,” said, and summarizes Turkey’s nuclear power plant story with these words: “In the past, unforeseen difficulties and delays were experienced in the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project, Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Now, fortunately, its construction is in full swing. There is only one fact in my mind that has not changed after all these years of hard struggle. That nuclear technology is indispensable for the future of the world and Turkey. The biggest danger threatening the future of the world right now; climate change. Carbon-free electricity generation is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It can be obtained in only three ways: renewable energy, nuclear power plants and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage (CCS).
President of Nutek inc, and Women in Nuclear, Turkey, Gül Göktepe of Istanbul, Turkey was the first women representing Turkey at the IAEA in Vienna, Austria, having also spent time on numerous international nuclear missions, including the Chernobyl and Fukushima incidents. She has published over one hundred and thirty scientific papers and authored many articles related to nuclear power stations, and the Black Sea. She has received numerous awards and fellowships including an international medal, the Black Sea Medal, awarded for outstanding services to protect the Black Sea environment, by UNDP GEF, BSC and BSERP.
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Radyasyon Onkolojisi Ana Bilimdalı Radyoterapi Fiziği Programı’ndaki doktora çalışması kapsamında geliştirdiği ‘radyoterapide her hastaya ve bölgeye (meme, tiroid vb.) uyabilecek zırh ve karşı memeyi tedavi alanından uzaklaştıracak sütyen tasarımıyla Hacettepe Üniversitesi ve Hacettepe Teknokent Teknoloji Transfer Merkezi işbirliği ile düzenlenen “Hacettepe Hamle İnovasyon Yarışması”nda 2018 yılında Sağlık Teknolojileri alanında birinci olan Nükleer Enerji Mühendisi Nur Kodaloğlu, alanın genç ve başarılı isimlerinden biri. 2019 yılında Teknofest kapsamında Türk Patent Enstitüsü’nün düzenlediği ISIF 2019- Uluslararası Buluş Fuarı’nda “İkincil Kanser Riskini Azaltan Bir Sütyen” patenti ile ‘bronz madalya’ ile ödüllendirilen ve yeni buluşlar üzerinde çalışan Kodaloğlu kadınların bilime katkısını şu sözlerle vurguluyor: “Farklı meslek gruplarındaki kadınlar toplumun çeşitliliğini yansıtmaktadır. Bugün hem nükleer mühendislik alanında, hem de hastanelerin radyoterapi bölümlerindeki kadın medikal fizikçi ve kadın hekimler ile nükleer tıp, radyoloji bölümlerindeki kadın hekimlerin sayısı azımsanmayacak kadar çok. Yaptıkları yayınlar göz önünde bulundurulduğunda bilime yaptıkları katkının da bir o kadar fazla olduğu görülecektir. Kadınların toplumun nükleer teknolojilere olan güvenini arttırmada da önemli rolleri var.”
SUCCESSFUL ACHIEVEMENTS
Organized in cooperation with Hacettepe University and Hacettepe Teknokent Technology Transfer Center, with the armor design that can fit each patient and region (breast, thyroid, etc.) and the bra that will move the opposite breast away from the treatment area, she developed within the scope of her doctoral study in the Radiation Oncology Department of Hacettepe University, Radiotherapy Physics Program. Nuclear Energy Engineer Nur Kodaloğlu, who won the first place in the field of Health Technologies in the Hacettepe Move Innovation Competition in 2018, is one of the young and successful names in the field. Kodaloğlu, who was awarded the ‘bronze medal’ with the patent “A Bra that Reduces the Risk of Secondary Cancer” at the ISIF 2019-International Inventions Fair organized by the Turkish Patent Institute within the scope of Teknofest in 2019 and working on new inventions, emphasizes the contribution of women to science with the following words: “Different professions Today, the number of female medical physicists and female physicians in both nuclear engineering and radiotherapy departments of hospitals, and female physicians in nuclear medicine and radiology departments is substantial. “Women also play an important role in increasing society’s confidence in nuclear technologies.”
“Teknolojik gelişmeyle paralel nükleer enerjinin kullanıldığı her alanda Türkiye’yi ileriye taşıyacağına inanıyorum” diyen Feride Kutbay, nükleer reaktör güvenliği alanında yaptığı çalışmalarla dikkat çeken başarılı genç bilim insanlarından biri. İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi (İTÜ) Enerji Enstitüsü’nde Nükleer Araştırmalar Ana Bilim Dalı’nda Araştırma Görevlisi olarak görev yapan Kutbay, Türkiye’de bu alanda yeni iş fırsatlarının da artmaya başladığına dikkat çekerek, şunları ifade ediyor: “Nükleer güç santralini barındıran bir ülke olarak, nükleer reaktörlerin işletilmesi için yetiştirilen uzmanların dışında IAEA standartlarının ülkemizde uygulanmasında görev alacak uzmanlara da ihtiyaç var. Şu anda Rusya’da eğitim gören öğrencilerimizin dışında Türkiye, son birkaç yıldır Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’na bağlı yurt dışı yüksek lisans bursu ile nükleer alanda yetiştirilmek üzere farklı ülkelere öğrenci gönderiyor. Geleceğe yönelik insan kaynağımızı güçlendiriyoruz. Kadın istihdam oranının artırılması ve kadın profesyonellerin yetiştirilmesine yönelik adımların Türkiye’de gelişmekte olan nükleer sektöre pozitif yönde etki edeceğini düşünüyorum. Kadınlar bu mesleğe enerji ve güç veriyor.”
WE PROVIDE POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION
Feride Kutbay, who said, “I believe that it will carry Turkey forward in every field in which nuclear energy is used in parallel with technological development,” is one of the successful young scientists who draw attention with her studies in the field of nuclear reactor safety. Kutbay, who works as a Research Assistant in the Department of Nuclear Research at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Energy Institute, draws attention to the fact that new job opportunities have started to increase in this field in Turkey, and says: “As a country that hosts a nuclear power plant, In addition to the experts trained for the operation of nuclear reactors, there is also a need for experts who will take part in the implementation of IAEA standards in our country. Apart from our students currently studying in Russia, Turkey has been sending students to different countries to be trained in the nuclear field for the last few years, with a graduate scholarship from the Ministry of National Education. We are strengthening our human resources for the future. I think that steps towards increasing the rate of female employment and training female professionals will have a positive impact on the developing nuclear sector in Turkey. Women give energy and strength to this profession.”
Post created by Jeremiah Josey and the team at The Thorium Network
In their excellent Wind and Solar’s Achilles Heel: The Methane Meltdown at Porter Ranch, Mike Conley and Tim Maloney reported:
“Even a tiny methane leak can make a gas-backed wind or solar farm just as bad – or worse – than a coal plant when it comes to global warming. And the leaks don’t just come from operating wells. They can happen anywhere in the infrastructure… In the U.S., these fugitive methane leaks can range up to 9%.
“If the fugitive methane rate of the infrastructure… exceeds 3.8 %, then you might as well burn coal for all the “good” it’ll do you. All in all, the numbers are pathetic – some of the most recent measurements of fugitive methane in the U.S. are up to 10%. But the gas industry predictably reports a low 1.6%.”
Emissions from the latest natural gas-fired turbine technologies. Tests include PM2.5, wet chemical tests for SO2/SO3 & NH3, and ultrafine PM. Strong presence of high concentrations of nanoparticles. Two orders of magnitude higher turbine particle emissions than background.
a University of California Riverside (UCR), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Riverside, CA 92521, USA b Delta Air Quality Services, Inc., 1845 North Case Street, Orange, CA 92865, USA c Fossil Energy Research Corporation (FERCo), 23342-C South Pointe Dr., Laguna Hills, CA 92653, USA d South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), 21865 Copley Dr., Diamond Bar, CA 91765, USA
The sediments in many of the world’s shallow oceans and lakes also release vast amounts of methane from frozen organic matter as it thaws and decomposes. When a Russian scientist searched the Arctic shores for methane, he found hundreds of yard-wide craters, but when he returned a few years later, they were 100 yards in diameter.
In 2014, N. Nadir, of the Energy Collective wrote, “The most serious environmental problem that renewable energy has is that even if it reached 50% capacity somewhere, this huge waste of money and resources would still be dependent on natural gas, which any serious environmentalist with a long-term view sees as disastrous.
“Natural gas is not safe – even if we ignore the frequent news when a gas line blows up, killing people. It is not clean, since there is no place to dump its CO2; it is not sustainable; and the practice of mining it – fracking – is a crime against all future generations who will need to live with shattered, metal-leaching rock beneath their feet, and huge amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere.”
“If politicos impose a carbon-tax, a methane-leakage tax, etc., utilities will build nuclear plants as fast as they can.”
Dr. Alex Cannara
Burning just 1 gallon of gasoline creates about 170 cubic feet of CO2.
Tim Maloney of the Thorium Energy Alliance argues that we should be conserving natural gas because methane is the primary feed stock for ammonia, and ammonia is used to produce nitrogen-based fertilizers, a shortage of which could cause starvation. In addition, closing nuclear plants and expanding “renewables” that require natural gas will substantially increase CO2 and methane emissions.
From THINKPROGRESS, Nov. 2017, “A shocking newstudy concludes that the methane emissions escaping from New Mexico’s gas and oil industry are equivalent to the climate impact of approximately 12 coal-fired power plants.”
Post created by Jeremiah Josey and the team at The Thorium Network
Japan responded [to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake] by closing its nuclear plants – a foolish move that has required the country to spend USD 40 billion per year on liquefied natural gas plus billions more for coal, which has created huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Another USD 11 billion per year has been spent to maintain their perfectly functional-but-idle reactors.
Nuclear power has been tarred by the Fukushima Daichi disaster, but the failure was NOT the fault of nuclear power. It was caused by repeated corporate lying, record falsifying and penny-pinching, by the lack of government enforcement of seawall height, by building too low to the ocean, and by installing backup generators in easily flooded basements.
Blaming nuclear power for Fukushima is like blaming the train when an engineer derails it by taking a turn at 70 mph that is posted for 30. (The Japanese Diet has stated that the Fukushima accident was not the fault of “nuclear power.”)
Blaming nuclear power for Fukushima is like blaming the train when an engineer derails it by taking a turn at 70 mph that is posted for 30. (The Japanese Diet has stated that the Fukushima accident was not the fault of “nuclear power.”)
A few days later, Goodman’s article was read by Captain Reid Tanaka, a United States Navy professional with considerable expertise in nuclear matters who had been intimately involved during the meltdown – and Captain Tanaka presented a very different view:
“I was in Japan, in the Navy, when the tsunami struck and because of my nuclear training, I was called to assist in the reactor accident response and served as a key adviser to the US military forces commander and the US Ambassador to Japan. I spent a year in Tokyo with the US NRC-led team to assist TEPCO and the Japanese Government in battling through the casualty.
“My command (CTF 70) was the direct reporting command for the REAGAN (where we had control over REAGAN’S assignments and missions) and were in direct decision-making with REAGAN’S Commanding Officer and team. I don’t qualify to be called an “expert” in reactor accidents…, but I am well informed enough to know where my limits are and to see through much of the distortions on this issue….
“A Google search will tend to drive people to alarmist websites and non-technical news reports, but you could also find the dull, technical (yet truthful) places such as the IAEA or DOE…
“Numerous bodies of experts have weighed in and provided assessments and reports. A couple are quite critical of TEPCO and the Japanese nuclear industry and regulators.
Operation Tomodachi On Reagan
“… the biggest problem the public has is … being able to distinguish the science-based, objective reports from the alarmist and emotionally charged positions that get the attention of the press, some of whom are self- proclaimed experts in some fields but NOT nuclear power: Dr. David Suzuki and Dr. Michio Kaku. Neither understand spent fuel, nor the condition of spent fuel pools….
“Dr. Suzuki is an award-winning scientist and a champion for the environment, but he is lacking any real understanding of spent fuel or radioactivity. “Bye-bye Japan?’ A headline grabbing sound-bite, but the math just doesn’t work…
“[Sometimes] the true experts cannot give a simple answer because there isn’t one, while those who have no science to back their claims have no compunction in saying the sky is falling and everyone else is lying.
“For the Navy, the contamination caused by Fukushima created a huge amount of extra work and costs for decontaminating the ships and our aircraft to ‘zero’, but [there was] no risk to the health of our people.
“REAGAN was about 100 miles from Fukushima when the radiation alarms first alerted us to the Fukushima accident. Navy nuclear ships have low-level radiation alarms to alert us of a potential problem with our onboard reactors. So, when the airborne alarms were received, we were quite surprised and concerned. The levels of contamination were small, but they caused a great deal of additional evaluation and work. REAGAN’s movements were planned and made to avoid additional fallout. Sailors who believe they were within five miles or so, were misinformed. Japanese ships were close; the REAGAN was not….
“There are former sailors who are engaged in a class-action suit against TEPCO for radiation sickness they are suffering for the exposure they received from Operation Tomodachi. The lead plaintiffs were originally sailors from REAGAN but now have expanded to a few other sailors from other ships. Looking at the claims, I have no doubt some of the SAILORS have some ailments, but without any real supporting information (I haven’t seen ANY credible information to that end), I do not believe any of their ailments can be attributable to radiation—fear and stress related, perhaps, but not radiation directly. Radiation sickness occurs within a ‘minutes/hours’ time frame of exposure and cancer occurs in a ‘years’ time frame. These sailors were not sick in either of these windows. I believe that many of them believe it, but I also believe most are being misled.”
The closure of Japan’s nuclear plants and its increased use of imported liquefied natural gas put an end to Japan’s long-standing trade surplus. But in 2015, bowing to financial realities and because of diminishing fear, Japan restarted the second of its reactors. As of May, 2018, seven reactors had been restarted, with many scheduled to follow.
Shortly thereafter, the U. S. media and many of the “Green” organizations began to report that a Fukushima worker had been “awarded compensation and official acknowledgment that his cancer [leukemia] was caused by working in the reactor disaster zone.” That’s wrong, and competent journalists who do adequate research should know it. Here are the facts:
The worker received a workman’s comp benefit package because he satisfied the statutory criteria stipulated in the 1976 Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, which says that workers who are injured or become ill while working or while commuting to and from work, can receive financial aid and medical coverage. The worker spent 14 months at F. Daiichi. (October, 2012 to December 2013.)
In late December 2013, the worker felt too ill to work, so he went to a doctor, and was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in January, 2014. No link was made between his occupational exposure and his cancer. In addition, because the latency period between radiation exposure and the onset of leukaemia is 5 to 7 years, the worker did not get cancer from working at Fukushima. It was, in fact, a pre-existing condition that was exploited by opponents of nuclear power who routinely repeat convenient-but-wrong stories because being honest and accurate takes time, knowledge and integrity.
In 2016, anti-nuclear zealots began to fear-monger about the effects of Cesium-134 on fish while ignoring reports from NOAA and the Japanese government that stated, “Radioactive Cesium in fish caught near Fukushima Daiichi continues to dwindle. Of the more than 70 specimens taken in October, only five showed any Caesium isotope 134, the ‘fingerprint’ for Fukushima Daiichi contamination. The highest Cs-134 concentration was [associated] with a Banded Dogfish, at 8.3 Becquerels per kilogram. Half of the sampled fish had detectable levels of Cs-137, but all were well below Japan’s limit of 100 Bq/kg….”
These amounts are tiny, and the particles emitted from the Potassium-40, which we all contain, are more potent than the Caesium-137 emissions that many greens apparently fear.
There is 500,000 times more natural radiation in the ocean than the amount added by Fukushima.
Regarding the risk from remaining reactor material that many greens agonize over, Dr. Alex Cannarasubsequently wrote,
“As of late 2013, the spent fuel at Fukushima was 30 months old. That means that the rods and the fuel pellets within them are able to be stored in air. If any rods had never been in a reactor core, they have no fission products in them and are perfectly safe to take apart by hand.
“So, what do we have at Fukushima? We have some melted core materials (corium), which can be entombed. We have water containing a small amount of fission products like Cesium. And, we have a bunch of fuel assemblies that are very radioactive because of their internal creation of fission products when they were in their reactor cores. (No fission products are created when rods are out of cores, in pools or dry air storage.)
“Since the rods are at least 30 months out of fission-product production [2013], one can see how quickly they’ve lost the need for cooling and the reduction in their radioactivity.
“Nuclear power has for its entire life, been the safest form of power generation. The EPA estimates that we lose more than 12,000 Americans every year to coal emissions. The Chinese lose 700,000, and the Indians, 100,000. To delay building nuclear power plants will cause diseases and deaths that could easily be avoided.”
Nuclear power is the safest way to generate electricity.
World Health Organisation
“A nuclear power plant that melts down is less dangerous than a fossil fuel plant that is working correctly. [Because of their toxic ashes and emissions.] Fukushima illustrates that even a meltdown that penetrates containment is very little danger to the public when a few basic precautions are taken.” Andrew Daniels, author, “After Fukushima What We Now Know”.
“Not 1 in 10,000 people have any concept of the huge amount of 24/7, low-carbon electricity a nuclear power plant can deliver compared to the intermittent dribble provided by the renewables.”
Every year, U.S., nuclear-generated electricity prevents more than 500 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere – Wall Street Journal
Post created by Jeremiah Josey and the team at The Thorium Network
A Deadly Evacuation
Excerpts from the Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) 7- 31 May, 2013 General Assembly Records.
Chapter III Scientific findings [Fukushima]
“1. The accident and the release of radioactive material into the environment.
On 11 March 2011, at 14:46 [2:46 pm] local time, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred near Honshu, Japan, creating a devastating tsunami that left a trail of death and destruction in its wake.
The earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which flooded over 500 square kilometres of land, resulted in the loss of more than 20,000 lives.
The loss of off-site and on-site electrical power and compromised safety systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station led to severe core damage to three of the six nuclear reactors on the site.
In this March 11, 2011 photo taken about 2 hours after a massive earthquake and tsunami occurred, Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, is pictured. (AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Yasushi Kanno) JAPAN
The Government of Japan recommended the evacuation of about 78,000 people living within a 20-km (12 mile) radius of the power plant and the sheltering in their own homes of about 62,000 other people living between 20 and 30 km from the plant. However, the evacuations themselves also had repercussions for the people involved, including a number of evacuation-related deaths and the subsequent impact on mental and social well-being
Those “evacuation-related deaths” would eventually total 1,600, with 90% of them caused by Japan’s reliance on American radiation safety standards that are based on a fraud that began in the 1920’s. More on that in coming episodes.
That fraud, committed by a Nobel laureate and formalised by the U.S. in the 1950’s, became regulatory dogma that has greatly retarded the expansion of CO2-free nuclear power, accelerated Climate Change and caused the deaths of millions who, out of fear of radiation, avoided essential diagnostic methods and treatments, and at Fukushima caused hundreds of suicides by distraught and unstable people, primarily the elderly, who feared that they would never see their homes or businesses again.
The linear model has since been dropped by a number of international bodies specialising in radiation protection.
The daughter of an elderly woman who had hung herself lamented, “If she had not been forced to evacuate, she wouldn’t have killed herself.” (Chapter 7 of the book compares the deaths caused by using fossil fuels instead of emission-free nuclear power).
Children were not allowed to play outside, and topsoil was needlessly removed at great expense from farm fields that became, as a consequence, less fertile.
Hundreds of elderly people were hastily removed from nursing homes and hospitals, only to be scattered across the hardwood floors of gymnasiums, where many died from makeshift medical care, or sometimes none at all.
These deaths were preventable, just as Climate Change can be moderated if the industrialised nations replace the burning of carbon and the use of deadly, inefficient, carbon-reliant windmills and solar farms (chapters 9 and 10) with CO2-free nuclear power as rapidly as possible while developing technologies that support natural processes that can remove CO2 from our atmosphere. Windmills can’t do it. Neither can solar, not singly or combined with wind. For that, we will need an abundance of safe, efficient, CO2-free nuclear power. Nothing else will do.
Here is a podcast with George Erickson talking about Fukushima Daiichi:
Can a knife alone be dangerous? Who instilled in us the mindset of what is dangerous. What is wrong or right? Is this an inner belief or idea or is it rooted in our culture? Yes, I say that this knife, which in our opinion is a simple tool, may end someone’s life!
What about nuclear energy? Can this concept or rather a misconception be generalized to nuclear energy? I say yes! Without a doubt, everything in this world can show two sides, positive and negative. Nuclear energy is no exception. Actually, It is our way of thinking that distinguishes right from wrong. If we learn how to use something properly, then we will always use its positive potential.
Now, if we base our criteria on the proper use of anything, we will find out that the environmental problems caused by common fossil fuels that have formed in our minds as safe fuels will act as the same knife. In the validation, they will be in a lower position than renewable energies like nuclear energy and we will eventually find out which to choose between not enjoying healthy air or a misconception about nuclear energy.
Sometimes we need to solve a problem radically and temporary solutions will work in the short term but what about the long term?
So we can not categorically reject nuclear energy and approve fossil fuels because we have a logical reason to reject fossil fuels and that would be environmental pollution!…. We are now witnessing its destructive effects on our surroundings!
Sometimes we need to solve a problem radically and temporary solutions will work in the short term but what about the long term? What solution will we have? This is the relationship between the environment and clean energy.
Now we come to cultivate an idea … an idea that needs collective support and that is Thorium nuclear energy… By the laws of physics, without any military or destructive purposes as clean and alternative energy that can be produced for thousands of years, and most importantly Thorium molten salt machines are the safest type of technology available.
You may think, these are easy on paper but hard to do…but I say not impossible!
So we find that what matters is how we use the tools that we have, not just the nature of it. This is how the same simple knife can be beneficial in its way. Now you can see how the impossible can be made possible by changing the nature of a concept and flourishing it and that is why we are here and this is our main mission!
Authored by Jeremiah Josey and the team at The Thorium Network
At The Thorium Network, we believe that the future of sustainable nuclear energy hinges not only on innovative reactor technology but also on transparent, secure, and efficient management of the Thorium fuel supply chain. To realise this vision, cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) must work in harmony to transform how Thorium is tracked from mine to power plant.
Why Traceability Matters for Thorium
Thorium’s promise as a safer, cleaner nuclear fuel depends on rigorous oversight and accountability throughout its entire lifecycle. From extraction and transportation to fuel fabrication and reactor use, every step requires precise monitoring to ensure safety, prevent diversion, and comply with international regulations.
Traditional supply chain systems, often siloed and paper-based, fall short in providing the real-time visibility and tamper-proof records essential for managing such a sensitive material. This is where blockchain technology shines.
Blockchain: The Backbone of a Trustless, Decentralized Ledger
At its core, blockchain is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that stores information in an immutable, decentralized way. Every participant in the network holds a synchronized copy of the ledger, ensuring transparency and eliminating single points of failure. Crucially, any change to the ledger requires consensus among verified participants, making unauthorized data alteration virtually impossible.
For Thorium supply chains, a permissioned blockchain model is ideal. This restricts access to trusted entities—such as authorized miners, transporters, regulators, and power plant operators—while maintaining full visibility and accountability. Platforms like Hyperledger Fabric, NEM Enterprise, Corda, and Credits offer the modularity, privacy, and scalability necessary for such enterprise-grade solutions.
Enhancing Blockchain with AI and IoT for Real-Time Monitoring
Blockchain’s immutable records are only as good as the data fed into them. To ensure accurate, real-time tracking, IoT devices are integrated into Thorium containers and transport vehicles. These include:
RFID/NFC chips that create a digital identity for each container, storing critical data such as material type, weight, origin, and destination.
GPS trackers for live location monitoring and route optimization.
Weight and fill-level sensors to detect any unauthorized removal or tampering.
Temperature sensors to ensure safe environmental conditions.
AI-powered facial recognition and motion sensors to verify handlers and detect suspicious activity.
These devices continuously upload verified data to the blockchain, enabling stakeholders to receive instant alerts about any deviations or security breaches.
Smart Contracts: Automating Compliance and Business Processes
Smart contracts—self-executing code embedded on the blockchain—automate complex business rules and compliance checks. For example, payments to freight providers can be automatically triggered upon verified delivery, or audits can be initiated when certain conditions are met. This reduces paperwork, minimizes human error, and accelerates operational workflows.
End-to-End Traceability: From Mine to Fission Machine
Imagine a shipment of Thorium leaving a mine site, sealed in an air-tight container equipped with IoT sensors. Each event—loading, transit updates, driver changes, arrival at the power plant—is recorded on the blockchain with precise timestamps and unique asset IDs. This creates a permanent, tamper-proof audit trail accessible to all authorized parties.
Integration with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems via APIs further streamlines data flow, enabling seamless coordination across the supply chain ecosystem.
Building a Trustless, Transparent Future for Thorium Energy
While blockchain alone cannot guarantee provenance, when combined with AI, IoT, and robust operational and legal frameworks, it creates a trustless environment where transparency, security, and efficiency coexist. This holistic approach is essential for Thorium’s role in the global transition to sustainable nuclear energy.
At The Thorium Network, we are committed to advancing this vision by developing and supporting decentralized blockchain platforms that empower communities, regulators, and industry players alike. Together, we can unlock Thorium’s full potential as a safe, scalable, and clean energy source for generations to come.
Join us in pioneering the future of nuclear energy traceability. Explore more at TheThorium.Network and be part of the decentralised energy revolution.
This article leverages the detailed technical insights from the Oodles post while framing them within The Thorium Network’s broader mission and ecosystem, creating a unique, authoritative, and forward-looking narrative.
