OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2016.  On the recommendation of the IAEA Technical Working Group on Fuel Performance and Technology (TWGFPT), the IAEA initiated a Coordinated Research Project on "Near Term and Promising Long Term Options for the Deployment of Thorium Based Nuclear Energy" in 2011, coordinated by Mr Uddharan Basak of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. This research project provided a platform for sharing of research results and previous experience among the national laboratories and research institutes of the participating Member States.

The need for coordinated examination of how thorium fuel types may be deployed, and what hinders progress toward such goals was addressed by the CRP with an objective to develop strategies for the timely deployment of thorium based nuclear energy systems that can serve as component of the global energy supply. For the use of thorium fuels, the reactor platforms that were looked at include LWRs, HWRs, HTRs, MSRs and Fast Reactors. Several new advanced variants of these reactor types to particularly take advantage of the neutronic characteristics of the Th-233U fuels were also considered. Participating countries were Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, India, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America.