Unlike uranium-based reactors, LFTR's use commonly-available thorium, uses the fuel in an easy-to-make form (thorium dissolved in molten sodium fluoride salt), uses a very safe reactor design, generates a tiny fraction of the radioactive waste of uranium reactors, and best of all the waste generated has a radioactive half-life of under 300 years!
We could build 400-500 1,000 MW LFTR's and essentially replace almost every coal-burning powerplant in the country, tremendously improving the air quality. So what are we waiting for?
Obama's goal isn't to replace coal with nuclear or anything else that works well. They want to replace coal with things that DON'T work and sell our coal to other countries. They are trying to destroy the economy.