
Thorium touted as The Answer to our energy needs - gulbrandr
http://www.thestar.com/printarticle/960564
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neutronicus
Once again, no mention of the _real_ reason we use Uranium:

Thorium is not fissile. It only becomes fissile through transmutation to
Uranium 233 by neutron activation. The only place with high enough neutron
fluxes to transmute a significant amount of Thorium? A nuclear reactor.

So, one needs a working nuclear reactor (as well as a reprocessing plant to
extract the U-233!) to produce fuel from Thorium.

Basically two whole levels of pain in the ass that don't exist in the Uranium
cycle, for a system that, no matter what its advocates say, is not that
different from a safety perspective.

