Safeguards Considerations For Thorium Reactors

This review paper strives to formulate a comprehensive summary of the possibilities and probabilities of future uses of thorium in nuclear reactors, and the corresponding level of effort that may be necessary to prevent diversion of the byproducts for non-peaceful uses, such as the production of nuclear weapons. Based on a review of the literature, it will summarize past demonstrations of the use of thorium as fuel, the possible new reactor designs under current research and development, as well as the various motivating factors that may impact future decisions. The detection, identification, and quantification of isotopes from a thorium fuel cycle would likely require different equipment, software and verification techniques than those used for safeguarding the uranium cycle. Therefore, it is helpful to lay out the possibilities systematically, to compare and assess the risks to prioritize resource allocation to achieve the greatest chance of success in any safeguarding efforts.