Any benefit from uranium fueled nuclear reactors is far outweighed by their dangers--contamination of coolant water, breakdown of fuel rods and of course, the by-product, plutonium, which is only good for making horrendous WMD. Thorium, on the other hand, is a far safer fuel and reactors using it require 1/10th the physical footprint of an equivalent uranium powered reactor. Thorium reactors use no coolant water and their waste product decomposes in 200 years, as opposed to thousands. They can be safely installed and operated in close proximity to populated areas. Thorium technology was developed by the Atoms for Peace program in 1958, but was shelved by cold war hawks in favor of uranium that would produce plutonium for bombs.