The US nuclear industry, what little remains of it, have all of their money tied up in the Generation III Light Water uranium reactors. AP 1000 .
The NRC has drug their feet on approving licenses for these reactors costing these company millions.
They and the Eurpean nuclear companies also seem to have bet their the future of the High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor. HTGR .
Read a very interesting,if dry, book about thorium recently.
Basically we ended up with uranium reactors because the military wanted to make bombs and thorium reactors aren’t good for bomb-making.
China, on the other hand, is working on LFTR. LWR, is the ATARI 2600 of reactors. IF LFTR works out, they will apply for IP. If it can be done on an assembly line process, and with its inherit benefits, high pressure reactors will become expensive dinosaurs.
Expensive toys with huge infrastructure costs vs LFTR’s simpler design and costs (and side benefits).
Why should the US do research on LFTR...it’s apples to oranges to them. Their history/infrastructure is on Uranium. Thorium is getting noticed in China, Japan, Czech Rep, Canada and others.
HTGR....only time will tell on that. It too has its design challenges.
I’d say, competition of ideas is good.
If it’s done in the US, it won’t be done by the “usual suspects”. I’d predict a consortium of special interests, academics and investors (from multiple countries).