That's a lot of risk capital for any venture-backed start-up, especially considering that not one new commercial nuclear reactor design has been approved and built in the United States for 30 years.

WSJ: The New Nuclear Revolution

Barring forcible intervention of some kind, it's highly likely Iran will fire up this reactor in earnest later this year--and start cranking out, on an industrial scale, spent fuel that can be processed into plutonium for nuclear bombs.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Obama, the appeaser?

Lightbridge Corporation, a pioneering nuclear-energy start-up company based in McLean, VA, is developing the Radkowsky Thorium Reactor in collaboration with Russian researchers.

FORBES: Is Thorium the Biggest Energy Breakthrough Since Fire? Possibly.