Further to 'Is thorium the nuclear alternative?' in Green Health Watch Magazine 32, Norway, Sweden and Finland are now jointly investigating the feasibility of thorium-fuelled nuclear power stations.

It looks like a vote-winner, at least in Norway. Whereas polls in June 2006 showed that 80% of the population were completely opposed to any form of nuclear technology, a poll in February 2007 found that the same percentage were in favour of investigating the feasibility of thorium-fuelled nuclear reactors. The turn around in public opinion was achieved, according to Egil Lillestøl, a nuclear physicist at the University of Bergen (Norway), simply by quietly campaigning and explaining the benefits of the technology.

• At present the use of nuclear power is banned in Norway
• The European Union, India, the US, Japan and Russia are all working on thorium technologies