Editing Thorium Reactor Suppression Controversy (section)

== The Documented Facts ==

The following is not disputed:

* The [[Molten Salt Reactor Experiment]] (MSRE) ran successfully at Oak Ridge from 1965 to 1969, including operation on uranium-233 fuel — a major milestone publicly celebrated by AEC chairman Glenn Seaborg.
* The MSRE was shut down in December 1969 at the direction of Milton Shaw, Director of Reactor Development and Technology for the AEC, over the objections of ORNL director Alvin Weinberg.
* Shaw redirected funding to the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) programme, which used the uranium-plutonium cycle.
* Alvin Weinberg was removed from his position as ORNL director in 1973.
* By 1973, the US government had essentially discontinued thorium-related nuclear research.
* The ORNL research documents were not widely published. Thousands of pages were archived and largely unread for decades.
* The LMFBR programme (Clinch River Breeder Reactor) was subsequently cancelled in 1983 after billions in spending, having never produced commercial power.