Malcolm Knox (‘Nuclear Dawn’, May) thinks there’s only one nuclear energy – the one that the uranium industry wants him to think about. The uranium industry and the US Department of Energy are locked into two things that will condemn them to armament and disaster. Firstly, their reactor design is based on an Aga stove. The energy source sits still, while the coolant flows around it. When the coolant tube blocks, the ‘Aga’ goes nuts, which is what happened at Three Mile Island. Secondly, the uranium industry wants to use uranium, of which we have about 50 years’ supply, and which is only useful for making weapons. Why don’t you know about thorium? Because we cannot make bombs from it, it’s cheap, and it’s at least four times more plentiful.

Richard Horobin
Curtin, ACT