Last week I wrote about Japan, in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that severely damaged three nuclear power plants. Japan’s citizenry have been motivated to seek alternate energy like wind or solar, only to be told by their prime minister that nuclear energy was their only option.

Investigation into figures presented as proof revealed that the federal government and the nuclear power companies were in collusion and the figures were deliberately misleading. There is enough electrical power through conservation and development of alternative sources to completely shut down all the nuclear plants.

One alternative was thorium, nuclear but much safer than uranium or plutonium. It was discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named this element after Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

Berzelius was born in Sweden in 1779 and died in 1848. He is considered by some to be a father of modern chemistry. Besides identifying the chemical elements silicon, selenium, thorium and cerium, his students discovered lithium and vanadium.

I can see why Berzelius chose the name Thor, who was a veritable Swiss Army Knife of supernatural abilities.

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, as well as hallowing, healing and fertility.

Nearly as old as recorded history, Thor is still referred to in place names. Thursday was originally “Thor’s Day.”

In recent times, Canada, Germany, India, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, China and the United States have experimented with using thorium as fuel in nuclear reactors.

Development seems blocked mainly by government red tape and competing interests in the nuclear power industries, whose profits would be seriously threatened, especially if corporations wield as much political influence as was discovered in Japan.

Information on the Web suggests thorium as the fuel of the future. A 2006 Cosmos review by Tim Dean describes what a Thorium-powered nuclear world would be like:

“What if we could build a nuclear reactor that offered no possibility of a meltdown, generated its power inexpensively, created no weapons-grade by-products, and burnt up existing high-level waste as well as old nuclear weapon stockpiles? And what if the waste produced by such a reactor was radioactive for a mere few hundred years rather than tens of thousands? It may sound too good to be true, but such a reactor is indeed possible.”

Another source asserts that, “There is enough thorium in the United States alone to power the country at its current energy level for over 10,000 years.”

If you Google “Liquid fluoride thorium reactor,” what you will find is convincing. India is already convinced, and China is becoming interested. I hope it’s Japan’s turn soon. And ours.