[nickik]

I never claimed its impossible with solar, its just not very smart. Your calculation also leaves out a lot of issues with solar and intermittency. But even those things could be overcome.

However, how is that better? Uranium mining is tiny and a non issue. Thorium is even more plentiful, literally a waste product. We have enough of that stuff for 1000s of years. We have the technology to use it on mass scale and it has PROVEN track record of replacing fossil fuels at mass scales.

Solar panel waste is further duplicated by the live cycle and the lack of life cycle planning in the global supply.

[theK]

Is there a reason other than weapons lobby that blocks humanity from adopting thorium reactors?

[nickik]

The weapons lobby has nothing to do with it. The widely talked about claims that Thorium is not usable for weapons is false.

Uranium would most likely be picked for an industrial scale nuclear weapons program for a couple reasons but thorium does not eliminate these problems.

Furthermore many of the benefits people talk about when talking about Thorium is really about the reactor. Many of the same benefits could also be achieved with Uranium.

Thorium really shines for some specific reactor types.

Whats holding reactors back in general is regulation in all parts of the supply chain, from research to operational licenses, and a wide popular anti-nuclear feeling.