First published in 2012, this is a short video by Kirk Sorensen taking us through the benefits of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, a revolutionary liquid reactor that runs not on uranium, but thorium. Sorensen claims that this approach works and the thorium reactors have been built before. Search for either LFTRs or Molten Salt Reactors (MSR) for more recent details.
In the 1960s, the U.S. experimented with thorium reactors but decided to follow a path using a more known substance ... Uranium. This stalled research and development of thorium reactors until more recent times. Currently, the U.S. only has minor research into the use of thorium reactors, mostly for military applications. China is furiously racing to produce thorium reactors and will attempt to corner the market on reactor production. India has a similar program, albeit with less funding, to develop this type of reactor.
98% of the rare earth minerals in the world come from China. India has large deposits of thorium, more so than other potential fuel sources. The U.S. no longer has a large scale rare earth mining industry, with the biggest player, Molycorp in receivership. The U.S. is a long way from producing either thorium or a reactor to use it. Other countries in the world, like South Africa, do not currently have production online but are allocating resources to thorium mining in speculation of reactor design success.
Also see ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyqYP6f66Mw
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