A Thorium-based path to Sri Lankan energy sovereignty

Sri Lanka's National People's Power (NPP) government plans to phase out coal and embrace nuclear power in its 2025-2044 energy strategy. Although it is capital-intensive, the government views nuclear energy as essential for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. It targets 70% renewables, nuclear supplementation, and a 500 MW HVDC interconnection by 2030. Legal frameworks are pending, while public engagement and long lead times remain key challenges.

- BY VINOD MOONESINGHE [e-mail]

Building on earlier approval from March 2024, a Cabinet Paper proposes three 900 MW nuclear plants funded by private investors. Vendors from Russia, China, France, Denmark, USA, and Canada have submitted proposals. (See Table 1)

Despite improved nuclear safety, risks persist—human error, technical failures, and natural disasters can cause severe accidents. Given Sri Lanka’s vulnerability to tsunamis, floods, and climate impacts, the legacy of Fukushima highlights heightened long-term consequences. Dense population levels and coastal siting raise concerns over displacement, ecosystem damage, and socioeconomic disruption. Nuclear plants near tourist hubs may deter visitors, harming vital revenue. Even rare incidents risk contaminating farmland and water, threatening exports and food security. These challenges underline the critical need for careful planning, legal safeguards, and public engagement.

Long-term management of radioactive waste from conventional nuclear reactors, given its longevity, adds to both risk and cost. The need to import uranium means reducing Sri Lanka’s energy security and sovereignty.

However, Sri Lanka holds identified sources of over 4,000 tonnes of thorium—a resource once seen as unusable for energy. Thorium is now gaining traction through China’s TMSR-LF1, a 2 MW prototype that completed a year of full-power operation in June 2024. Thorium molten salt reactors (TMSRs) dissolve fuel in liquid salts, enabling safer, scalable, and more sustainable nuclear power. Operating at atmospheric pressure with passive safety systems, they eliminate steam explosion risk and generate minimal long-lived waste. Uranium-233 from thorium is hard to weaponise, due to uranium-232’s gamma radiation. These reactors achieve up to 98% fuel utilisation and use air cooling, bypassing freshwater demands.