Many associate the Fen Complex with the supposedly large deposit of thorium found there. This is not least due to the fact that the radioactive element has been the subject of considerable media attention for several periods.
Author: Tor Espen Simonsen
Published: 14 Nov, 2023
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Updated: 12 Dec, 2023
In particular, the energy potential has been an important reason for the attention paid to thorium.
At the start of the 2000s, several entrepreneurs in Norway worked systematically with plans to build nuclear power plants* based on thorium* and extraction of thorium from the Fen Complex.
The government-appointed Thorium Committee wrote in 2008 that Norwegian deposits of thorium contain a possible "energy content that corresponds to approximately 100 times the oil that Norway has extracted as of today, plus the content of the remaining reserves combined".
Although the amount of thorium in the Fen Complex may be large, questions have been raised as to whether the deposit is worth mining. Therefore US Geological Survey (USGS) removed the Fen Complex from its list of world thorium reserves in 2012.
Few believe that mining of thorium in the Fen Complex can be profitable. It is more likely with the extraction of rare earths, where thorium will be one of the by-products.
The relatively small quantities of thorium sold on the world market today mainly come from mining where the extraction of other minerals is the main product.
Today's nuclear power plants use uranium* as fuel. Several experts point to thorium as a possible substitute for uranium, since thorium can have fewer negative consequences for the environment and society than traditional nuclear power plants. Among the advantages that are often mentioned is that thorium can produce less hazardous waste and reduce the risks of serious accidents, such as uncontrolled meltdowns.
Despite its advantages, the technology of thorium power plants has not been fully developed, and there is a lack of international regulations to put thorium into use.
China has probably come the farthest in developing new reactor types for thorium. Several observers, including The World Nuclear Association, reports that the country is announcing the launch of the world's first full-scale thorium reactor in 2030. Although China is the furthest along the trail, similar projects are being developed in countries such as the USA and Denmark.
In a statement to Committee on Business and Industry in the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) in 2023, IFE* stated that there is a long way to go before thorium can be used as an alternative to uranium.
According to the IFE, thorium is not a fast track to nuclear energy as the development of thorium as a fuel takes time, and since the IEA* have not developed a separate safety regime for thorium:
«There is no tradition of using thorium in the nuclear power industry, and it is time-consuming to change the type of fuel as it requires very extensive regulatory approval processes.
According to IFE, it is limited interest worldwide for thorium as fuel in the short term, and the various nuclear power producing nations are still focusing on the use of uranium.
The result is a lack of demand and low production of thorium worldwide. In the 2000s, the production of thorium amounted to only a few hundred tonnes annually. In addition, there are reported to be stocks of unused thorium globally (see e.g. The thorium committee's report).
The USGS also reports in 2023 that thorium is increasingly being replaced by non-radioactive materials in the manufacture of products such as electrodes and light bulbs.
As mentioned, it is uncertain whether the deposit of thorium on the Fen Complex is viable, which led to the USGS removing the Fen Complex from its list of deposits in the world in 2012. At about the same time, interest shifted away from thorium and onto the Fen Complex large deposit of rare earths.
Thorium is largely a by-product of the extraction of rare earths. This will also be the case for the Fen Complex: If rare earths are being mined here, thorium will become a by-product
Thorium as a by-product can therefore improve the economic basis for mining. As we have seen, the problem is that there is only a limited market today. Before thorium can be handled by a larger market, this radioactive element must probably be stored or disposed of properly. Such storage will make the "product" available for future use.
We must also add that there has been no political will to invest in nuclear power in general or thorium in particular in Norway. However, the energy crisis in Europe in 2022 led to the discussion once again coming to the surface. In parallel, a number of ongoing research projects are exploring new ways of utilizing thorium. In the longer term, it is therefore possible that new demand for Norwegian thorium will arise.
Read more:
How radioactive is the Fen Complex? Since we are talking about a radioactive material such as thorium, it is natural that many people wonder about the dangers this can entail: Will mining, even for what are often called "green minerals", produce dangerous radioactive waste on Fen?
Much of the knowledge about thorium at the Fen complex is derived from investigations in the 1970s, 1980s and early 2000s. Then the actors looked mainly for thorium in the areas of the Fen complex where the old iron mines were located. In these areas, the geology is characterized by the so-called red rock, where the natural radioactivity is relatively high. This is also where the largest deposits of thorium are expected to be.
READ MORE: What happens to the radioactive slag at Søve?
In the map on this page, we can see the most radioactive areas marked in dark red. However, the area of the REE deposit is expected to have the least radioactivity. When the companies with mining rights* are mapping rare earths, they look for rocks that contain less thorium.
Rare earths are preferably found in the rock rauhaugite, or fe-dolomite-carbonatite as geologists call it. In short, rauhaugite contains a higher degree of rare earths and a lower degree of thorium.
In other parts of the Fen Complex, the situation may be different, such as in the red rock near the old iron mines, where the radioactivity is higher.
There is a long way to go before possible mining on Fen, and questions related to radioactivity, deposition site, handeling of waste rock and tailings, and processing facilities will be clarified at a later date. Therefore, it is not really possible to give a precise answer to how natural radioactivity in the Fen Complex should and must be handled in the future.
Fensfelet.no is owned by Nome municipality and Midt-Telemark og Nome utvikling AS (MTNU). The purpose of the website is to provide good and objective information about the Fen Complex to anyone who is interested.
