The corruption involved in the nuclear fuel industry and the power of those who will do whatever it takes to protect those ill gotten gains.
I can buy that there is protectionism here in the U.S. of the present nuclear industry by those in the game. However, that argument is without merit in India or China or even Japan for that matter prior to their recent disaster.
I know there is a problem with finding a metal or other material that can handle the corrosiveness of the thorium molten salts, but I have been hearing about thorium since I was in college about 30 years ago and it does not seem like we are any closer today than we were when an active thorium reactor was in use at Oak Ridge.
If thorium has so much potential (and I think it does) where is the real world application? China would love to have a cheap energy source that did not pollute. India would also love the same. I don’t think the U.S. nuclear industry has much say in Asia.