Thorium

China produces over 90% of rare earth metals which are used in electronics. Most modern military equipment require these metals so the national defense is threatened by not having a domestic supply. The refining of these metals requires many toxic chemicals but that is not the stumbling block as these chemicals can be controlled. The problem is caused by a by product metal called thorium. Rare earths are found mixed with thorium and thorium is radioactive. One solution to this problem is to use thorium in nuclear power plants. It is better than uranium and safer. It has fewer contaminated bi-products and is more prevalent in nature. The only drawback is that it does not produce plutonium as a by product which the government wants for nuke bombs. It is not necessary to set up a separate rare earth mine as most mines produce a bi-product that contains rare earths. These bi-products can be the raw material needed to produce rare earths. There are many ore mines throughout the western states that could be the sites of rare earth mines. The government seems unable to act and thus China continues to hold the advantage.