[ckilmer]

From Wikipedia:

Summarizing, Martin writes, “Thorium could provide a clean and effectively limitless source of power while allaying all public concern—weapons proliferation, radioactive pollution, toxic waste, and fuel that is both costly and complicated to process.[16]:13

From an economics viewpoint, U.K. business editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes that “Obama could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium,” suggesting a “new Manhattan Project,” and adding, “If it works, Manhattan II could restore American optimism and strategic leadership at a stroke …”[25] Moir and Teller estimated in 2004 that the cost for their recommended prototype would be “well under $1 billion with operation costs likely on the order of $100 million per year,” and as a result a “large-scale nuclear power plan” usable by many countries could be set up within a decade.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power

[P.O.E.]

Thanks for the info & links.

[Sequoyah101]

Interesting thread but like most things in this nation, we talk a lot and do nothing. The solution is so clearly obvious that there has to be some nefarious reason for not implementing it.

I have been an ardent supporter, follower, studier of LiFTR for several years. It was gaining some momentum before the disaster in Japan and then it went back to sleep.

A billion is chicken feed in the scheme of things here for the size of the prize. $100 Billion is chicken feed for the size of the prize.

This nation has settled into a deep valley of death.

[G Larry]

That was the theme of my 1980 Master’s paper “Energy for 2005”.