This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Research and invest in Thorium nuclear `liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR)`.
I want the Government to look in to, research and invest in liquid-fluoride thorium reactors (LFTR) as an alternative to the current uranium nuclear reactors. Thorium nuclear reactors are much safer, cheaper to run and Thorium is much more abundant element.
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Thorium is readily available & can be turned into energy without generating transuranic wastes. Thorium’s capacity as nuclear fuel was discovered during WWII, but ignored because it was unsuitable for making bombs. A liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is the optimal approach for harvesting energy from Thorium, and has the potential to solve today’s energy/climate crisis. LFTR is a type of Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (Th-MSR). It would provide cheaper more abundant energy and is much safer.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
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In April 2019, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, answered a parliamentary question about the potential merits of using thorium fuels for energy production:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-04-18/245888/
This stated that the Government had already commissioned research into thorium and uranium fuel cycles, an had considered these views and drawn on the expertise of its national laboratories to model nuclear scenarios that include the use of thorium, which were used to inform R&D needs on thorium nuclear fuel cycles.
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