Ohio lawmakers pushing thorium as alternative nuclear fuel
Terry Boose, R-Norwalk, is co-sponsoring a resolution at the Statehouse to promote research and development of energy from thorium reactors.
Two state legislators are on board with an effort to convince federal officials that reactors using thorium as a fuel have the potential to provide ample supplies of low-cost energy without many of the challenges of traditional nuclear power.
Reps. Terry Boose, R-Norwalk, and Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, said they plan to introduce a House Concurrent Resolution to promote research and development of energy from thorium reactors. They see it as a possible long-term solution to Ohio’s energy needs and an opportunity for manufacturers to supply components for the reactors.
The resolution will also ask the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish a method to fast-track licensing of liquid fluoride thorium reactors to be built and operated by private industry for production of energy as well as medical isotopes.
An aide to Boose told me the legislators plan to introduce the resolution this week.
In a letter seeking cosponsors for the legislation, Boose and Thompson said thorium, a naturally occurring element, is three to four times more abundant than the uranium used in nuclear reactors. They also said waste generated by thorium reactors is less radioactive and shorter-lived than waste produced by traditional reactors using uranium.
The two lawmakers were familiar with thorium reactors before they approached the Energy from Thorium Foundation for more information, said Don Larson, executive director of the Cleveland-based nonprofit organization.
“When they came to us with the idea for the resolution,” Larson told me, “we said, ‘What can we do to help?”
One of the ways, he said, is to help educate federal regulators about the benefits of thorium reactors. They were first developed in the 1960s by a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Oak Ridge, Tenn., but were set aside when the feds committed to uranium as a fuel.
“(Nuclear power) is the most-regulated industry in country,” Larson said, “but it’s not had a lot of startups and new ventures.”
He said there are a few fledgling businesses in other parts of the country that are working on thorium reactor designs. Larson would like to bring them to Ohio, but he also said the greatest financial payoff from thorium would likely be for Ohio manufacturers in the supply chain for the building of reactors.
Larson even went so far as to say the economic benefits from the oil and natural gas shale boom in eastern Ohio “could be a drop in the bucket compared to the manufacture of these reactors.”
Jeff Bell covers the energy industry for Columbus Business First.http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2013/12/17/ohio-lawmakers-pushing-thorium-as.html?page=all