India's Untapped Thorium Reserves: Can This Fuel Viksit Bharat? 

But it comes with its own perils and predicament.

Deposit Sites

India accounts for about 25 per cent of the world's total thorium deposits. If tapped prudently into this rich reserve, it would well put India in the global competition for nuclear energy production. 

Recently, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) announced that public hearings would be exempted for new mining projects of atomic minerals, including uranium and thorium, keeping in view of national defence and strategic requirements.

Thorium is a naturally occurring, slightly radioactive metal found in abundance in coastal areas. It is generally considered an atomic mineral due to the radioactive element. It is primarily extracted from monazite sands, which are found in the beach placer deposits along the coasts of several states, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha.

According to official data, an estimated 13.15 million tonnes of in-situ monazite deposits are found in India's coasts. Monazite in beach placer sands contains about 9-10 per cent of thorium oxide. 

Fertile And Fissile Materials

Since thorium is a fertile, and not fissile, material, it needs to be converted into uranium-233 for it to be used for nuclear energy production.

Fertile materials, in themselves, cannot undergo nuclear fission. Therefore, they are to be converted into a fissile material through neutron absorption.

Long-Term Energy Strategy

The government has set an ambitious target to increase the nuclear capacity to at least 100GW by 2047. Nuclear energy plays an important role in the country’s long-term energy strategy. The country has developed an indigenous nuclear power programme, based on a fuel cycle that aims to utilise its vast thorium reserves.

In March 2018, the government stated that the country's nuclear capacity would be about 22.5GW by 2031, well below the targets set earlier. This revised target was reaffirmed by Minister of State Jitendra Singh in December 2022 and by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in February 2025.

Global Race For Clean Energy

At the global front, China has been making leaps in its quest for thorium, recently reportedly launching the world’s first operational molten salt reactor (MSR) running on thorium fuel. This has only added fuel to the strive for clean energy to power the future.

Furthermore, China conducted a comprehensive geological survey that identified its rich reserves of thorium, which were previously underestimated or remained unmarked. According to the survey, substantial reserves were concentrated in Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia, and other sites. As per reports, the vast deposits of thorium could provide the country with energy, speculatively, for approximately 60,000 years.

Perhaps, India could take a cue from such "mapping" methods to tap into immense deposits of monazite, which is radioactive since it contains thorium and small amounts of uranium. It is found in abundance along the coasts of several States, including Kerala and Odisha.

The Road Ahead

The extraction and processing of thorium from monazite sands entail specialisation and a complex method involving chemical processing. Several factors influence the extraction of atomic minerals (thorium included).

Topography takes predominance since the deposit sites have to be comprehensively marked. In China, for instance, the Bayan Obo mining complex (west of Inner Mongolia) reportedly contains the potential to yield one million tonnes of thorium. Given this context, it is foreseeable as to why the thorium reactor was established in the Gobi Desert: the Bayan Obo Mining District abuts the desert's boundaries.

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor 

The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) in the coastal district of Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, marks a crucial step in India's three-stage nuclear programme. The PFBR will be utilised for the "breeder" technology to generate more fissile materials.

The development of the PFBR is seen with keen interest, in view of the strive for self-sufficiency in energy.

Environmental Impact

However, experts express concerns about the potential environmental impact, and call for concerted strategies to reduce the damage.

According to M. Vetriselvan, an environmental advocate, thorium extraction and conversion are a complex procedure; so far, no country has demonstrated high-scale success in converting it into a usable nuclear fuel in huge quantities. A viable measure to reduce radiation during thorium extraction has also not been chalked out.

"For this reason, the extraction process would continue to pose public and environmental risks. During extraction, large volumes of radioactive residues and byproducts would be generated. Without effective strategies, coastal areas and their people would bear the brunt of radiation. Public engagement is also crucial," he told The Secretariat.