Thorium may be a source of green energy

. Md. Khurshid Alam and Dr. Idris Miah : Long queues of women in the capital city roads under the sun and often in rains for purchasing coarse rice reflect the symptoms of economic illness in Bangladesh. There is rare job opportunity for them, so it is their job to purchase rice at reduced rate. The industrialists say that they cannot increase their industries or even cannot run their existing machine up to the full capacity due to energy crisis. Energy crisis is one of the main obstructions for foreign investment. The energy is the key to create jobs. Where is the resource to create jobs for millions in Bangladesh? They are in quest of jobs in foreign countries even under adverse conditions too. Bangladesh is a very small country having an area of 1,47,590 square kilometers and its population is approximately 160 millions. Man power is playing a vital role in national economy. The country has insufficient but fertile farm land. Besides agriculture and man power, the main resources of the country are natural gas, high quality coal etc. Government of Bangladesh is eagerly trying to improve the energy situation. In one hand, it is being discussed with neighboring countries Nepal, Bhutan and India to establish hydroelectric power plant jointly. On the other hand, it is trying to import gas from Myanmar and electricity from India and Myanmar. At present the demand of energy in the country is about 6,500 mega watt. Per capita electricity consumption of Bangladesh is 144 kw/h which is increasing 10% per year. It is very negligible in comparison with other countries like Saudi Arabia, where per capita electricity consumption is >7500 kw/h. Bangladesh has one of the lowest level per capita energy consumption in South Asia equal to 160 kg of oil. The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is expected to generate energy of about 15,000 mega watt by 2016. The demand of energy should be renewable as well as green. This idea was accepted by the World Energy Summit in their Abu Dhabi conference, 2011. In this summit, United Nations Secretary General proposed a global clean energy revolution that makes energy available and affordable for all. The scientists and the technologists throughout the world including Bangladesh are to look for minerals and elements as clean energy fuel. The idea has encouraged Bangladeshi geoscientists to review the data available in this regard. Besides fossil fuel energy, there are many sources of energy. Hydroelectric power is an ideal of those. Sun light, wind, oceanic wave etc. could be other sources. Geographical condition as well as river system of Bangladesh is not suitable except Kaptai for hydroelectric power generation. Others are still in research stage and expensive. Nuclear power is the most suitable and cheap in this regard. One kilogram of uranium can produce a few thousand times higher energy than one kilogram of coal. Main problem in this case is health security. Earthquake and tsunami of 2011 in Japan created a dangerous disaster in their Fukusima nuclear power plants. As a result Japan closed all of its nuclear power plant. Nuclear radiation of uranium is one of the most dangerous health threats. Safe nuclear fuel can solve the problem that arises from nuclear power project. Different

research activities have already advanced with positive results. Most probably thorium can replace uranium. Thorium can generate two hundred time higher energy than uranium and is safer. It is abundant in nature than uranium. Many countries like India have advanced a far way with thorium reactor. In Bangladesh, nuclear electric power could be an easy solution of present energy crisis. Government of Bangladesh has already taken initiation to establish a nuclear power reactor at Ruppur, Pabna with the help of the Government of Russia. Most probably it is going to use uranium as fuel. Uses of thorium along with the facilities of uranium as nuclear fuel could be considered for the proposed center to make it safer. Thorium based power reactors are still in research stage. It is expected that the positive result will be achieved within 5 to 10 years. So provision of thorium may be considered for the proposed Ruppur nuclear power plant. In that case it will be safer and able to produce more electricity. In Bangladesh, mineable quantities of radioactive heavy minerals thorium or uranium have not yet been discovered. It was reported in early sixties by the Atomic Energy Commission of the country that, the sands of the coastal area of Bay of Bengal contain radioactive element rich heavy minerals. Later investigations suggested that the amounts of these minerals are not mineable and mining may not be suitable for environmental reasons. River sand could be the alternative source of heavy minerals. Results of different studies with river sands done by the Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) and other organization are very much encouraging. GSB has reported considerable amount heavy minerals including thorium rich thorite and monazite in the sand deposits of Brahmaputra-Jamuna Rivers. Later studies strongly support these findings. Sediment flow of these rivers is a continuous process. Every year these rivers carry huge amount of sediments which come from their sources. A part of these sediments is being deposited on the river bed and surroundings creating problem in navigation and producing huge sandy land. These sandy lands are not suitable for cultivation and are thinly populated. So extraction of heavy minerals from these areas will not create socioeconomic problems or environmental hazards. Thorium is known to occur mainly in four minerals and those are thorite, thorianite, monazite and cerianite. Thorite and thorianite are thorium rich minerals and the monazite and cerianite are cerium rich ones. Sand deposits of the area from the confluence of the Dharla River to a sand bar near Sirajganj Township of the Bramhaputra-Jamuna River contain about 0.1%. On the other hand, monazite content in the coastal sand has been found to contain about 0.077%. Recent study by Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission has found monazite (6.75 %) in the non magnetic grade of the Brahmaputra River sediments. It is expected that sister minerals of monazite like thorite, thorianite and cerianite may be found here and that may be a big bonus. Statistics of estimations of monazite content in the incoming sediments annually is 55,000 to 60,000 metric tons which bears approximately 4,000 metric tons of thorium. This thorium can produce 4,67,760 mega watt electricity annually, calculated as per forecast of scientist Willium S. Krik. Different methods both primitive and modern ones are used in the mining of thorium minerals. Monazite, a valuable heavy mineral, has specific gravity of 5.15 to 5.8 and thorite of sp.gr. of 6.7 can be collected with the most modern equipments as well as most primitive method. Studies with river sands of Bangladesh indicated the presence of few more valuable minerals/elements. So

extraction of thorium along with other valuable minerals/elements from this sand will be able to open a new chapter of Bangladesh economy and within a short time the country will advanced tremendously towards a mid-income developed country. Once mining will start, other industry like nuclear power plants, tourism etc. may develop in and around the mining places. Under these circumstances, Bangladesh can establish thorium based nuclear power plant with its own thorium. This power plant will be safer, able to produce sufficient amount of electricity, which will be able to fulfill the present energy crisis and future demand of the country and play a vital role for the socioeconomic development of the country. If the source is insufficient to run the project then it could be run by imported thorium. Investigations as well as research for safer nuclear fuel should continue. The expected energy generation with thorium may create a situation in the country, which will be able to keep her children within herself and call by the UN Secretary General for green energy revolution may start from the big River valleys in Bangladesh. (Md. Khurshid Alam, Retired Director General, Geological Survey of Bangladesh and Dr. Idris Miah, Retired Director, Geological Survey of Bangladesh. Email: dr.idrismiah @gmail.com)