[ExI] Could Thorium solve our energy problem?

[John Clark]

Although it would be more economical to mine high quality ore that can approach 50% Thorium content first, if at random you picked one cubic meter of rock anywhere in the Earth's crust you would find about 12 grams of Thorium in it. if placed in a liquid Thorium reactor 12 grams would produce the energy equivalent of 37 tons of coal, enough to power one person's western middle class lifestyle for about a decade. 

Or Imagine it this way, the entire Earth's crust (and then some) being made of nothing but coal, every rock you have ever seen in your life was made of pure coal and you're worried about running out of coal. Finding enough free oxygen to burn up all that coal would be a legitimate concern but running low of that fossil fuel itself not so much. 

  John K Clark
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