China is starting a +1 billion dollar project to create a liquid thorium fission reactor (not fusion). The amount of thorium in the world is greater than the amount of copper, tin and some other metals, the amount of usable uranium is around the level of platinum. A working thorium reactor was created in the 1960s, and once china makes a few and show the world its a repeatable process, investors and banks world wide will be willing to invest in these reactors.
Incidentally, you can blend thorium with uranium for use in conventional reactors, and with some cleverness in the fuel handling, pebble bed reactors can run on thorium. It doesn't require big breakthroughs; they're just nice, is all.
http://thoriumremix.com/2011/