The use of thorium as the primary fuel is the key advantage of the DBI Thorium Reactor program. Compared to conventional uranium fuel, thorium is more widely abundant, environmentally friendly, and less expensive to process, and it will enable higher fuel burn-up rates, produce less long-lived radioactive actinide waste, and provide greater security against nuclear weapons proliferation.

The DBI Thorium Reactor program incorporates engineered features that eliminate the possibility of radiation release to the environment, catastrophic failure through operator error, or core meltdown.

Finally, the DBI Thorium Reactor program includes a complete and economical plan for on-site permanent waste disposal and facility decommissioning at the end of the reactor’s useful life. Thus the DBI Thorium Reactor program addresses simultaneously the major economic, environmental, safety, and security concerns surrounding nuclear power.

Specifically, the DBI Thorium Reactor program offers:

• No refueling for the life of the reactor (30+ years)
• After 30+ years, a 90% reduction in volume and toxicity of waste
• Energy produced at less than 3 cents per kilowatt-hour
• Capital investment paid back in record time

Compared to state-of-the-art nuclear technology, this translates to:

• Drastic reduction in volume and toxicity of waste
  
• Significantly improved reactor safety
  
• Clean and easy fuel processing
  
• Safe environmental operation
• Improved non-proliferation
• Reduced reactor size and complexity
  
• Lower fuel costs
  
• Fuel abundance

For decades, scientists internationally have accepted thorium’s usefulness as a fuel, but the technology and economics to make a transition to thorium feasible did not exist—UNTIL NOW.