This American company could help India's thorium dream

Summary:
A landmark U.S. export license allows Clean Core Thorium Energy to sell its innovative thorium-based nuclear fuel to India, setting the stage for a potential transformation in India's nuclear industry. The partnership spotlights thorium as a cleaner, safer alternative to uranium, and represents a significant step in U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation. If successful, this move could help India tap its abundant thorium reserves, reduce nuclear waste, and increase energy security.

---

1. A New Path for U.S.-India Nuclear Collaboration

For the first time in nearly twenty years, the United States has granted an export license for nuclear technology to India, this time to the Chicago-based company, Clean Core Thorium Energy. This marks only the second such license in two decades, signifying a major milestone in the energy partnership between the two nations. The newly granted license allows Clean Core to ship its thorium-based nuclear fuel to existing reactors in India—pending final approval from Indian regulators.

Mehul Shah, the founder and CEO of Clean Core, emphasized the significance:

"This license marks a turning point, not just for Clean Core but for the US-India civil nuclear partnership. It places thorium at the center of the global energy transformation."

For India, this is especially important. India has limited uranium reserves yet is rich in thorium, making this alternative appealing for both energy independence and long-term planning.

---

2. Why Thorium? Advantages and Hurdles

Thorium is often viewed as a promising substitute for uranium in nuclear reactors. It's more abundant, produces much less long-lived nuclear waste, and presents a lower risk of weapons proliferation compared to traditional uranium fuel. However, thorium still needs uranium to initiate the chain reaction that splits atoms—a process critical for generating nuclear energy.

Yet, there are some technical hurdles. For example, thorium is not fissile by itself (meaning it can't easily support a nuclear chain reaction alone), but it's "fertile," which means it can absorb neutrons and transform into a fissile material—specifically uranium-233. Uranium-233 has preferable waste and safety profiles compared to uranium-235 (the common fuel in today's reactors). Conventional reactors mostly run on uranium-235, but thorium, when used with the right technology, could substantially reduce the radioactive waste generated.

As highlighted in the piece:

"Thorium provides attributes needed to achieve higher burnups. It is enabling technology to go to higher burnups, which reduces your spent fuel volume, increases your fuel efficiency, and reduces the amount of uranium that you need."
— Koroush Shirvan, MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering

Importantly, Clean Core's fuel uses HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) mixed with thorium, making it a retrofit solution for India's large fleet of pressurized heavy-water reactors (PHWRs). This path takes advantage of existing infrastructure rather than requiring entirely new reactor designs.

---

3. India's Long Thorium Journey and Policy Shifts

India has eyed thorium as a key to its energy future for decades. Starting in the 1950s, India mapped out a three-stage plan to eventually phase thorium into its nuclear fuel cycle, backed by its substantial natural reserves of thorium. The 2008 123 Agreement between the U.S. and India paved the way for civilian nuclear trade, but India's stringent liability laws, born from past industrial disasters, have long discouraged foreign companies from entering its market.

One pivotal law was the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010, assigning accident liability to suppliers, making most international companies walk away from deals. Only Russia pursued business, selling reactors to India.

However, recent political changes hint at a thaw. In February 2025, after a summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump jointly stated:

"Their commitment to fully realise the US-India 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement by moving forward with plans to work together to build US-designed nuclear reactors in India through large scale localisation and possible technology transfer."

More recently, the Indian government has signaled it will reform its liability law to attract foreign players, accelerating potential collaborations and opening the door for innovators like Clean Core.

---

4. How Clean Core's Fuel Stands Out

Clean Core's approach is both practical and ambitious. Instead of requiring entirely new reactor types, its HALEU-thorium fuel can operate in current Indian PHWRs—reactors that use "heavy water," a special form of water that helps increase the efficiency of thorium fuel.

There are currently 46 pressurized heavy-water reactors (PHWRs) worldwide, with 19 located in India. By targeting existing infrastructure, Clean Core lowers barriers for the adoption of thorium fuel.

The company claims significant benefits:

• Reduces nuclear waste by more than 85% compared to conventional uranium fuel.
• Avoids production of the most dangerous isotopes.
• Offers a safer, more sustainable nuclear cycle.

Milan Shah, Clean Core's Chief Operating Officer, put it this way:

"The result is a safer, more sustainable cycle that reframes nuclear power not as a source of millennia-long liabilities but as a pathway to cleaner energy and a viable future fuel supply."

Clean Core's strategy also contrasts with Chinese efforts, which require building new thorium-compatible reactors from scratch. As Milan Shah explained:

"We think ours is the path of least resistance. Maybe not being completely revolutionary in the way you look at nuclear today, but incredibly evolutionary to progress humanity forward."

---

5. Looking Ahead: Implications for India and the World

With regulatory and political barriers easing, India could soon become a global leader in thorium-fueled nuclear power—a move with far-reaching implications for clean energy, energy security, and non-proliferation.

For India, using thorium could help avoid repeating the proliferation problems of the past. As Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission and a mentor to Shah, explained:

"The proliferation concerns will be dismissed to a significant extent, allowing more rapid growth of nuclear power in emerging countries. That will be a good thing for the world at large."

Clean Core also has plans to further innovate, with aspirations to adapt its fuel for the light-water reactors—the type used in the U.S.—within the next two years. However, technical barriers and differences in reactor design mean this will require intensive research and engineering.

---

Conclusion

This new U.S.-India partnership and the breakthrough in thorium fuel technology could reshape the future of nuclear energy, particularly for countries rich in thorium but lacking uranium. By focusing on practical adoption in existing reactors and leveraging recent shifts in international policy, Clean Core's approach may finally bring India's long-standing thorium dream to reality—showing the world a cleaner, safer path forward in atomic energy. 🚀