I have never been convinced that it's even possible to do nuclear power "right." I still don't think there is if you are talking about uranium fueled reactors. More on that another time. Meanwhile, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I've learned a few things that make me think that we ought to go nuclear after all.

Thorium (element number 90) reactors were first investigated in the 1950s at the Oak Ridge National Lab. Thorium is naturally radioactive and makes wonderfully efficient nuclear power plants. It requires much less processing than uranium to be useful. However, Uranium (element number 92) has a higher power density, and its spent fuel can be used to produce fissionable material for bombs, which was a desired byproduct decades ago. As we know, that's how the world "went nuclear."

Today, of course, the disposal of nuclear waste is one the fundamental problems with nuclear power, and the uncontrolled diffusion of fissionable material for bombs is a serious threat to the world's security.

The good thing about Thorium is that the half-life of spent fuel is tens of years, not thousands of years like Uranium nuclear waste. Also, the US has an estimated 300,000 metric tons of Thorium, about 20% of the world's supply, sitting in the ground, mostly in Idaho. Thorium reactors use low pressure containment systems and are therefore easier and safer to operate, and the waste cannot be used to fashion a nuclear weapon.

A US company named Lightbridge Corp in Mclean, VA, is currently fabricating three Thorium-fuel rods for a thorium test reactor. Where is the reactor located? In Russia. It's scheduled for activation in 2012 / 13. India, China, and Norway are also considering the construction of Thorium test reactors, and the International Thorium Energy Organization in Europe is vigorously promoting the technology. So where's the United States in all this?

Sources as ideologically diverse as Mother Jones Magazine and Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah have sung the praises of Thorium reactors. Hatch even introduced the 'Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act' in 2008 to encourage the development of thorium reactors. But there are no official projects yet.

I'm sure there are impacts from mining and processing thorium that haven't been fully characterized. All fuel sources have impacts. But it seems to me that as far as bang-for-the-buck energy technologies go, thorium has real potential at a lower fiscal and environmental cost than uranium. Is it renewable? Maybe not. And conservation should always be the priority. Still, I am convinced that thorium has a role to play in a clean energy world.