Why we should be focusing on developing thorium reactors instead of uranium ones... Apparently uranium was used initially because the plutonium by-product was ideal for making weapons. With thorium, this is not the case, making it an ideal fuel for today. Add in the facts that thorium is more efficient and its by-products decay in centuries instead of millenia, and you have to wonder why there isn't more of a national push to fund these kinds of developments. Japan and China certainly aren't waiting for us to take the lead in this department; they are forging ahead, leaving U.S. researchers in the dust.