HANDFUL OF ENERGY

A ball of thorium this size could

provide one person with

a lifetime supply of energy

Don't know much about thorium? Don't worry. You're not alone.

Most people—including scientists—have hardly heard of the heavy-metal element and know little about it even though it was first identified almost two centuries ago. Yet in just the past few weeks, a handful of people in a small number of countries have been beating the thorium drum loudly. They're convinced that the element, which sits near uranium in the periodic table, could serve as a nearly inexhaustible fuel for commercial nuclear reactors, providing low-cost, inherently safe, and nonpolluting power to an increasingly power-hungry planet. And they're trying to tell the world all about it.