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I don't understand the whole "it has to be capable of making bombs to be viable" thing.

I mean, the local coal power plant can't make artillery shells, but we're not shutting it down...

Only an assumption here, but I would say its due to what to do with the waste. If the waste is useless, then we have to have a place to put it. If it has another use, then obviously we dont have to stick it in a hole somewhere.

Again, totally non-researched, off the top of my head assumption.

Thorium reactors breed U-233, but not as a waste product. The U-233 is consumed to generate power. I'm not sure what the U-233 produces when it undergoes fission but I don't think the result is weaponizable.

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