Cheap safe energy would be bad for a lot of folks invested in oil, natural gas and alternative energy sources.
If it wasn't for the United States Navy adopting the Light Water Reactor Design for submarines, commercial nuclear power might look quite different today.
The DOD and the Navy did all the heavy lifting and proof of concept work.
A commercial Thorium Reactor is going to require someone to foot the initial cost for R&D and commercial proof of concept. This is going to cost billions of dollars.
You definitely wouldn't want to build one in the U.S. or the E.U. as the permitting process would likely take decades, before you even were allowed to start construction.
Unfortunately visionaries with money are in short supply.
Maybe China, India or Russia can get it done.
You speak as if from a position of expertise.
You are not doubt aware that a Thorium Reactor ran non stop for many years?
in the fifties?
As far as I know though, there are no commercial versions of this reactor in service anywhere. I think Thorium reactors are the perfect solution for large scale commercial power plants.
I also really liked the slow breeder reactor proposals that did not use liquid sodium as a cooling agent, however still made more fuel than they used, with potentially safer operation than a fast breeder design.
Politics will continue to retard Nuclear Power development, which is a shame as it is the only source of alternative energy that cheaply and effectively power an industrialize society.
as always...Government IS NOT the solution...it IS the problem.