Executive Summary

The strength of New Zealand’s economic prosperity lies in the hands of a successful energy policy, however, not all options have been considered. The 2011-2021 New Zealand Energy Strategy shows clear favouritism for wind power, while overlooking the potential of Thorium fuelled nuclear power. This report is crucial to examine how thorium fuelled nuclear power can provide New Zealand with secure energy production and supply. A safe and secure energy supply, without exaggeration, is the crux of the Western lifestyle, be for encouraging economic performance or prosperity. A cost-benefit analysis will be used to investigate the potential of Thorium fuelled nuclear power, and whether it is suitable, and most efficient, to meet New Zealand’s needs. Therefore, this report hopes to de-contextualise the mystique behind nuclear and wind power, as both of their identities  much influence in NZ energy related discourse. The end result is to provide Cabinet policymakers with enough knowledge to fully understand thorium’s potential. Thorium derived energy, projects a New Zealand future that is cleaner, safer and highly efficient, where the government’s current strategic goals of energy security and production can be easily met and vastly exceeded.