Thorium

Thorium is a radioactive metallic element with atomic number 90. Its naturally occurring isotope, thorium-232, can be converted into fissile uranium-233, making thorium-bearing materials potential nuclear fuel.

Thorium fuel cycle: A nuclear fuel cycle that converts thorium-232 into uranium-233 for use in reactors. It describes the breeding process that gives thorium its potential as fuel.
Molten salt reactor: A nuclear reactor that uses molten salt as fuel, coolant, or both. Some designs can dissolve thorium fuel in circulating molten salt.
Jöns Jacob Berzelius: A Swedish chemist who discovered several elements and helped establish modern chemical notation. Berzelius identified thorium in a mineral sent to him from Norway.
Uranium: A radioactive metallic element with atomic number 92, widely used as nuclear fuel. Uranium has established fuel cycles, while thorium must first be converted into uranium-233.
Monazite: A phosphate mineral that commonly contains rare-earth elements and thorium. Processing monazite for rare earths can produce thorium-bearing radioactive residues.
Uranium-233: A fissile uranium isotope that can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. This is the fissile material produced when thorium-232 captures a neutron and decays.
Liquid fluoride thorium reactor: A proposed molten-salt reactor design that breeds uranium-233 from thorium-232. It is a prominent design specifically organized around thorium fuel.
Thorite: A thorium silicate mineral that is an important natural source of thorium. The mineral supplied the material from which thorium was first identified.
Uranium-235: A naturally occurring fissile uranium isotope used in many nuclear reactors. Unlike thorium-232, it can sustain fission without breeding another fissile isotope first.
Rare-earth element mining: The extraction and processing of ores containing rare-earth elements. Thorium is often encountered as a by-product in rare-earth mineral processing.

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