Sri Lankan energy policies puzzling

Regrettably, Sri Lanka does not have enough money to pay for its energy import needs. And also, the prices of oil and gas are rising, and Sri Lankans are suffering with power cuts and lack of vehicle fuel. But this is unnecessary suffering. It is madness. There is no need to import oil, gas or coal because Sri Lanka is blessed with large deposits of mineral sands on beaches in the North and West coasts, containing rare earth minerals, including Thorium. This is a powerful source of energy waiting to be tapped. Also, in Sri Lanka the educational system trains chemical engineers, and then gives them no jobs!

Therefore, Sri Lanka has all the ingredients for generating cheap energy but clearly does not have the will-power and management to initiate and promote this new form of energy. We prefer to rely on imports. But there are increasing numbers of countries around the world which are investigating the potential of Thorium for power generation, but, note, they are not blessed with great deposits of energy in the form of Thorium. Why are these countries active and Sri Lanka, who is so sorely in need of energy, is not? That is my puzzle.

The first step to take is to secure these deposits from selfish plunderers and profiteers and then take samples to assess the nature of the sands and examine how to extract the Thorium. Sri Lanka would only need small quantities perhaps available to us from India!  and then we can use Thorium for the benefit of all Sri Lankan society. But no action.

Priyantha Hettige