Thorium-based nuclear power generation is fueled primarily by the nuclear fission of the isotope uranium-233 produced from the fertile element thorium. A thorium fuel cycle can offer several potential advantages over a uranium fuel cycle —including the much greater abundance of thorium found on Earth, superior physical and nuclear. • Significant and expensive testing, analysis and licensing work would be required, requiring business and government support. In water-cooled reactors, the input fuel which needs to be utilized are not thorium, but rather mixed oxide fuels () or thorium plutonium oxide fuels (TOX fuel); These fuels can be. is three times as abundant as and nearly as abundant as and in the Earth's crust. The estimates "there is enough thorium in the United States alone to power the country at its current energy level for over 1,000 years. According to Rubbia, "In order to be vigorously continued, nuclear power must be profoundly modified". Thorium is mostly found with the phosphate mineral, , which contains up to about 12% thorium phosphate, but 6–7% on average.
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