I have not fully researched but just off the top of my head ...
” The technology itself is good.” > I don’t know of any succesful thorium reactors providing electricity to the grid. THTR-300 was shutdown and bankrupted the company.
“it is safer” > Theoretically but there is no track record except for failed projects.
“It is too bad the anti-nuclear zealots have infiltrated government and media at the highest levels.” > Utility feasibility studies with present rate structures will not support building these expensive plants. Much easier and less risk to build gas turbines.
You may want to read up on it.
And excellent, informative site explains it and also provides many scientific references:
https://sites.google.com/site/thoriumenergycheaperthancoal/
It would be indeed be safer. Just the fact that it would be not be a pressurized water reactor, and would be operating near atmospheric pressure makes it a lot safer in my eyes.
And the reactor cannot melt down by inherent design.
Gas turbines are great. But they need fuel to run, and they do emit atmospheric pollutants.
Just because a single plant has not been built, or was built and shut down doesn’t mean it can’t be done or that it cannot be done at a profit.
If that were the case, we would have never built airliners because the first planes crashed and were unsafe.