Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive actinide metal (atomic number 90) that serves primarily as a fertile material in nuclear science and technology topics. In a reactor environment, thorium-232 can absorb a neutron to become thorium-233, which beta decays through protactinium-233 to fissile uranium-233, enabling thorium-based fuel cycles. Research topics involving thorium include molten salt reactor designs, thorium-uranium fuel behavior, neutron economy, proliferation resistance characteristics, and long-lived waste reduction potential. Scientific investigations also address thorium’s nuclear data (cross sections, decay schemes), materials compatibility, fuel fabrication, and performance under high-temperature, high-radiation conditions.
Two independent research teams have achieved a longstanding goal in physics: building a working nuclear clock. The devices, developed by Beichen Huang and colleagues at Tsinghua University and by Luca Toscani De Col and colleagues ...
In 2008, a team of UCLA-led scientists proposed a scheme to use a laser to excite the nucleus of thorium atoms to realize extremely accurate, portable clocks. Last year, they realized this longstanding goal by bombarding ...
General Physics
Dec 10, 2025
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Why are there atomic clocks but no nuclear clocks? After all, an atom's nucleus is typically surrounded by many electrons, so in principle it should be less susceptible to outside noise (in the form of light). A nucleus, ...
Physicists have been hoping for this moment for a long time: For many years, scientists all around the world have been searching for a very specific state of thorium atomic nuclei that promises revolutionary technological ...
General Physics
Apr 29, 2024
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