decade. The problems won't be the fuel, it will be the bureaucracy and using the opportunity in the used fuel. Leave a comment James on October 05 2012 said: Thorium is a proven nuclear fuel that produces very little waste and can burn all the present waste plutonium. The world might be a little safer without all that waste plutonium laying arround. If we are to build new reactors then I think we should build reactors that use thorium and cannot melt down because thorium cannot reach critical mass.