[phon]

For anyone unfamiliar with the Thorium fission cycle, the first five minutes of this Creative Commons film give a good overview with a more detailed exploration of the topic later in the film:

http://thoriumremix.com/2011/

[PythonDeveloper]

Yes. Thorium is the yummy chocolate and sprinkles donuts version of todays nuclear reactor. All the benefits and almost none of the drawbacks.

[pjscott]

You're talking specifically about liquid fluoride thorium reactors. Other types of thorium (or thorium-uranium mix) reactors exist, and are in commercial use now. Canada's CANDU reactors, for example, can run on thorium.