Guest Contributor
America is on the cusp of a new generation of nuclear energy technology—one that could help resolve one of the longest-running concerns that has shadowed the industry: the public health and safety impacts of uranium mining, particularly in the Desert Southwest.
Across the Navajo Nation, the legacy of uranium mining has left a lasting impact that continues to haunt communities. Between the 1940s and 1970s, the United States dug over 500 mines across the Nation, many of which were abandoned without adequate cleanup or warning—leaving scars and radioactive exposure that affected people and livestock.
In 1979, the largest radioactive release in U.S. history occurred on the Navajo Nation: a uranium tailings dam failed near Church Rock, releasing approximately 94 million gallons of radioactive wastewater and more than 1,000 tons of radioactive waste into nearby waterways. The effects were devastating.
Given uranium’s legacy, it is understandable why renewed interest in nuclear energy might cause fear. For some, the risk of repeating past mistakes is too great. Fortunately, there are alternatives.
Thorium is a naturally occurring, weakly radioactive metal that is present throughout the world in many rocks and soils. Because thorium primarily emits alpha radiation, which cannot penetrate human skin, it can be safely handled under proper conditions with relatively low external radiation risk.
As a common material, thorium is approximately three to four times more abundant in the Earth’s crust than uranium, and it occurs in relatively high concentrations in monazite sands, where ores can contain up to 12 percent thorium oxide—compared with many conventional uranium ores that average below 1 percent. Additionally, because thorium is often found alongside rare earth minerals, it can be sourced as a by-product of existing mining streams rather than from new mines—potentially reducing costs while decreasing the need for new surface disturbances.
The benefits of thorium don’t stop at mining; they extend to its energy profile. Thorium does not require the same enrichment that conventional uranium fuel does, and in certain designs, it can produce significantly less long-lived radioactive waste.
Once used in a reactor, thorium is converted into uranium-233, releasing a substantial amount of energy. Some analysts suggest thorium-based fuel cycles have the potential to extract up to 200 times more usable energy from mined fuel than conventional once-through uranium cycles. And when paired with recycled nuclear waste, thorium-based systems may be able to extract up to ten times more usable energy from spent fuel than conventional reactors can on their own.
As a result, thorium has been increasingly discussed as a potentially safer, more abundant, and more energy-efficient alternative to uranium in the next generation of nuclear reactors. Several advanced reactor developers are already exploring this pathway:
Flibe Energy, based in the United States, is developing the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor, a molten-salt design that uses thorium to breed fissile uranium-233 during operation, reducing reliance on enriched uranium.
Copenhagen Atomics, based in Denmark, is developing a factory-built, containerized molten-salt reactor in which a thorium blanket breeds uranium-233 around a compact core—scalable for mass production.
Transmutex, based in Switzerland, is advancing an “Energy Amplifier” reactor that pairs thorium with recycled nuclear waste to generate power using a particle accelerator to sustain a subcritical reaction. It has attracted international venture backing and government research support.
Clean Core Thorium Energy, seeking regulatory approval in Canada, is developing a specialized thorium-based fuel called ANEEL that blends thorium with high-assay low-enriched uranium to improve fuel utilization in existing and advanced reactors.
China has deployed the TMSR-LF1, an experimental 2-MWt liquid-fuel molten-salt test reactor that recently demonstrated thorium-based fuel operations.
These advanced reactors share a common theme: less uranium, more power, and potentially lower environmental risk. By using thorium, developers can breed more fissile material while reducing reliance on enriched uranium—putting our past experience to better use.
For decades, scientists have argued that thorium offers a better option for commercial power generation than uranium. In the 1960s, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory successfully operated the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment, demonstrating that thorium-based systems could safely and reliably generate electricity for civilian purposes.
The federal government, however, prioritized uranium for national defense purposes over thorium for electric power production, leading to the uranium-centered industry that has dominated nuclear for the last 70 years. Had the United States gone down the thorium path instead, America’s history with nuclear energy—and with uranium mining—might look very different today.
What happened on the Navajo Nation during the Cold War was wrong. Although expanding next-generation nuclear energy in Arizona does not automatically mean new uranium mining in our state, focusing on thorium-based reactors may help address long-standing concerns while keeping our state moving forward.
Today’s advanced nuclear developers are rediscovering the thorium pathway that was demonstrated in the 1960s, allowing us to pursue the path we likely should have taken all along: one focused on reliable and affordable power with potentially better environmental outcomes.
As our nation’s energy demands rise and we reach for clean energy solutions at scale, let’s not let uranium’s past get in the way of thorium’s future. Arizona should support these next-generation thorium-based designs.
Michael Carbone is a Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives representing Legislative District 25 and serves as House Majority Leader. Follow him on X at @MichaelCarbone. John Gillette is a Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives serving Legislative District 30 in Mohave County. He is Chairman of the Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections Committee. Follow him on X at @AzRepGillette.
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