Thorium fueled car needs refueling once a 100 years.

[kaykay]

Here is the latest estimation regarding thorium reserves around the world. India tops the list.(infact every agency says that India has one of the largest share of thorium constantly).
Thorium

 

[T-123456]

Sorry people had the minerals mixed up.
It was Boron,what we have the most.
Boron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Dr. Homi Bhabha in the 1950s envisioned India using Thorium to meet it's energy needs.


Stage III – thorium based reactors

A Stage III reactor or an Advanced nuclear power system involves a self-sustaining series of thorium-232-uranium-233 fuelled reactors. This would be a thermal breeder reactor, which in principle can be refueled – after its initial fuel charge – using only naturally occurring thorium. According to the three-stage programme, Indian nuclear energy could grow to about 10 GW through PHWRs fueled by domestic uranium, and the growth above that would have to come from FBRs till about 50GW.The third stage is to be deployed only after this capacity has been achieved.[57]

According to replies given in Q&A in the Indian Parliament on two separate occasions, 19 August 2010 and 21 March 2012, large scale thorium deployment is only to be expected “3 – 4 decades after the commercial operation of fast breeder reactors with short doubling time”.[66][31] Full exploitation of India’s domestic thorium reserves will likely not occur until after the year 2050.[67]

India's three-stage nuclear power programme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[KRAIT]

First start with Airplanes and Trains.

Miniaturization will be a challenge.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

The Indian Minister of State V. Narayanasamy stated that as of May 2013, the country's thorium reserves were 11.93 million tonnes, with a significant majority (8.59 Mt; 72%) found in the three eastern coastal states of Andhra Pradesh (3.72 Mt; 31%), Tamil Nadu (2.46 Mt; 21%) and Odisha (2.41 Mt; 20%)

Umm.. holyshit!

 

[kaykay]

First start with Airplanes and Trains.

Miniaturization will be a challenge.

Commercial reactors should be available asap. India has a very good chance to be a world leader in that as our first Indigenous 500 MW FBR Reactor is almost ready(can use thorium as a fuel too). We can earn lots of money if we get a few customers in long run.

 

[T-123456]

Ur link doesn't support ur claim, even in IAEA 2005 estimates India had 519,000 tonnes of reserves against Turkey's 344,000.

Read post 17.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Currently only Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), a PSU under Department of Atomic Energy, has the permission for commercial exploitation of Monazite and thorium deposits in the country. As per official data, India's has 11.93 million tonnes (MT) Monazite reserves, largest in the world. Production figures of Thorium are not available due to its strategic importance.

Allow private sector in Monazite mining, ease rules: MEAI - Economic Times

Dude, India has 11.93 million tonnes of it.

 

[KRAIT]

Commercial reactors should be available asap. India has a very good chance to be a world leader in that as our first Indigenous 500 MW FBR Reactor is almost ready(can use thorium as a fuel too). We can earn lots of money if we get a few customers in long run.

Link about that reactor.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Link about that reactor.

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
India’s Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at advanced stage of completion - The Hindu

 

[AirRodgers]

Thorium when use in a solid fuel form like India doing require the recycling/ reprocessing thorium(228TH) that is highly radioactive.

The effort required has not seemed worth it while abundant uranium is available

wikipedia

Unlike its use in Molten salt reactors, when using solid thorium in modified light water reactor (LWR) problems include: the undeveloped technology for fuel fabrication; in traditional, once-through LWR designs potential problems in recycling thorium due to highly radioactive 228Th; some weapons proliferation risk due to production of 233U; and the technical problems (not yet satisfactorily solved) in reprocessing. Much development work is still required before the thorium fuel cycle can be commercialized for use in LWR. The effort required has not seemed worth it while abundant uranium is available.

 

[Contrarian]

India doesn't have half of the world's thorium reserves but does have a substantial amount. Thorium is actually very abundant and even with little all states can be energy free.

Our known Thorium reserves are conservatively estimated to be a Quarter(25%) of the Worlds total. And that is just on surface reserves. Maybe much more is there.

The only question is when do Thorium reactors become Commercially viable.

 

[kaykay]

Link about that reactor.

It can use thorium fuel cycle(although first reactor will not use it initially but in long run it is planned to use thorium fuel cycle only.)
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indian fast breeder reactor set for 2014 switch on
another advantage is, one of our fast breeder reactor(500 W) is enough to produce around 130KG weapon grade plutonium/annum(4 fold of what we are producing now). And initially we have planned 6 such reactore(almost 1000 KG wgp/annum, if required).

 

[JohnyD]

oil lobbies around the world wont make it happen at least for next 100 years..!

 

[kaykay]

@Indo-guy is an expert here. He can tell us more.