Yes, Thorium can be used as Nuclear Fuel, however there are benefits to using Thorium vs U-238 -> PU-239.

TH-232 is considerably more abundent on Earth where as U-235 is more rare than platinum and U-238 needs to be bred into PU-239 to be used as nuclear fuel and is easily weaponized.

TH-232 is NOT FISSILE, its FERTILE, and Beta decays into Protactinium-233 then into Uranium-233, which is considerbaly more FISSILE than U-235 with a Fission:Capture ratio of 12:1 vs U-235's 6:1 & PU-239's 3:1

So Thorium can provide us with MORE fuel, and that is MORE EFFICIENT than the U-235 / U-238 -> PU-239. TH-232 is also incredibly difficult to weaponize, especially compared to PU-239.

The real benefits start to show when to include TH-232 into MSR's (Molten Salt Reactors) like the IMSR (Integral Molten Salt Reactor) and LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor). These designs are meltdown proof as their fuel is already in a melted state and as they heat up the reaction slows down, this was PROVEN at ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) back in the 1960's - 1970's by MSR's founder Dr. Alvin Weinberg. The half-life of a U-233 reaction are 300 years vs PU-239's 10's of thousands.