China is not alone in seeking to exploit thorium's unique properties. Previously, India, Japan, the UK, the US and other countries have shown enthusiasm for its possible application in nuclear energy. Thorium has several advantages over conventional nuclear fuel, uranium-235.
Thorium is a by-product mainly of monazite, and its extraction requires more expensive methods than those for uranium, at least as long as the demand for thorium and its application in nuclear energy do not help to find ways to make them cheaper. Its separation requires large amounts of acid and energy and could generate hundreds of tonnes of wastewater for every gram of thorium purified.
Thorium-uranium fuel is expensive, to the extent that equilibrium with uranium would only be reached if the price of uranium doubled. However, the revenue generated by electricity sales, combined with the cost of refuelling during reactor downtime, shows that it can be advantageous: a saving of 14.8% when compared over equivalent time periods.
Some of these problems are solved by molten salt reactors, where the equilibrium fuel cycle is expected to have relatively low radiotoxicity.
Amazon, Meta, Google and DOW are among the signatories of the so-called “Large Energy Users Commitment” that supports the goal of at least tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050.
The Red Book, a joint publication by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), agrees that global nuclear energy production could increase by more than 50% by 2040.
Countries with the largest reactor parks are extending the life of existing plants to 60 years, and even to 80 years in the case of the USA, but more than 140 reactors will reach that limit by 2040. Small modular reactors and micro-reactors could contribute up to 10% of total capacity in the most favourable scenario, but are not a clear alternative.
Any fuel cycle option considered will require relatively long lead times for implementation: 15-20 years to design, build, permit and commission a new fuel cycle facility; deployment of the first commercial reactor could take several years; and full implementation of a fuel cycle could require a couple of decades to a century to transition from a fleet using a single fuel cycle.
Spain's pioneering status in the field of nuclear energy, which gave it the impetus for the plants 50 years ago, has consolidated an industrial fabric with enormous scientific and technological capabilities.