Thorium as an energy source has a great deal to recommend it.
Unlike uranium, thorium is not “fissile,” so it needs to be coaxed into a reaction. In the presence of “fissile” elements, a sufficient amount of energy is released to kick-start the thorium reaction to produce a satisfactory amount of heat energy, which may be used to propel a steam turbine for direct power generation, and has a certain degree of “throttle response”, in which the reaction may be damped down, or raised to a more energetic level with predictable effect.
Thorium has the added advantage of producing much less “waste” than uranium based reactions, and in fact, “burns” the waste from spent or depleted uranium nuclear rods, which present a continuing problem with storage at existing nuclear plants.
The time to move to this power source is fast moving beyond the theoretical and experimental to the practical engineering applications. Its adoption may also lead to a decentralization of the power grid, with the power plant moved much closer to the point of electrical consumption. Individual power plants would be both much smaller than an equal amount of power generation potential from uranium-based nuclear power, and pose much less hazard to the immediate locality.
Years ago (1958), Ford produced a non-operative concept of just such a vehicle, the Nucleon, but it never got beyond the model stage. The original idea was to use uranium as the power source, but thorium would work so much better in this application.
That sounds great, especially the part about decentralized power generation.