Thorium - The much safer alternative nuclear energy source

This a great article by Neil Reynolds from the Canadian website Globe and Mail. He goes into the history of Nuclear energy and weapons and the two main sources that were considered to fuel them, which were uranium and thorium. Many countries researched the differences between the two in the early 1900s. It turns out thorium had all the advantages. It is more abundant, simpler, and safer (doesn't combust or "meltdown" with no chain reaction). The only advantage uranium had in the eyes of many of the governments researching nuclear at the time, is that uranium is a much more deadly and devastating bomb (radioactivity lasts exponentially longer), hence why we use uranium today.

It's unfortunate that the shortsightedness of the governments and researchers back then has greatly affected the way our world is today, simply because they viewed nuclear for mainly military use. However, thorium seems to be making a resurgence and governments are taking a second look at it. It goes on to talk about China and their recent efforts with using thorium in their plants...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/with-thorium-we-could-have-safe-nuclear-power/article2030383/