POPULAR MECHANIC: The U.S. Government Made a Powerful New Kind of Nuclear Fuel

Could a new blended thorium fuel improve U.S. nuclear power’s outlook? Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory have a new fuel called Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life, or ANEEL. It's a proprietary mix of thorium and low-enriched uranium, and Forbes’s James Conca says it could help close the gap in a near future where nuclear seems like the only option.

The mix itself is a secret, but thorium—pictured above in pellet form—has continued to gain momentum as an alternative nuclear fuel.

Thorium has a number of advantages over uranium, and especially over highly enriched uranium. Yes, thorium must be paired with at least a small amount of a fissile material, because it isn’t naturally fissile on its own. But it’s much more plentiful than uranium and found in high quantities in the kinds of developing markets where Conca says nuclear will be clutch in coming decades—starting with India.