‘No quick wins’: China has the world’s first operational thorium nuclear reactor
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Team working on project reportedly achieves milestone by completing fuel reloading while experimental molten salt reactor was running.

Chinese scientists have achieved a milestone in clean energy technology by successfully adding fresh fuel to an operational thorium molten salt reactor, according to state media reports.

It marks the first long-term, stable operation of the technology, putting China at the forefront of a global race to harness thorium – considered a safer and more abundant alternative to uranium – for nuclear power.

The development was announced by the project’s chief scientist, Xu Hongjie, during a closed-door meeting at the Chinese Academy of Sciences on April 8, the official Guangming Daily reported on Friday.

The experimental reactor, located in the Gobi Desert in China’s west, uses molten salt as the fuel carrier and coolant, and thorium – a radioactive element abundant in the Earth’s crust – as the fuel source. The reactor is reportedly designed to sustainably generate 2 megawatts of thermal power.

Some experts see the technology as the next energy revolution and claim that just one thorium-rich mine in Inner Mongolia could – theoretically – meet China’s energy needs for tens of thousands of years, while producing minimal radioactive waste.

A much bigger thorium molten salt reactor is already being built in China and is slated to achieve criticality by 2030. That research reactor is designed to produce 10 megawatts of electricity.

China’s state-owned shipbuilding industry has also unveiled a design for thorium-powered container ships that could potentially achieve emission-free maritime transport.

Meanwhile, US efforts to revive the development of a molten salt reactor remain on paper, despite bipartisan congressional support and Department of Energy initiatives.

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  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    181·
    2 days ago

    The only obstacles are a general lack of real world experience.

    Both Thorium and Uranium were being researched in the 60s, but only one can readily be made into nuclear weaponry. So that’s where the research was focused, and not just in the US. Thorium molten salt reactors aren’t a particularly new idea, they date back to the same time period.

    Now that nuclear weaponry isn’t the focus, we’re finally seeing real research like this in alternative nuclear sources. Thorium is much more abundant than Uranium, and is fairly readily available worldwide. The byproducts are much less reactive, and the amount of nuclear “waste” is a fraction of uranium. Even there though, the nuclear waste issue has been blown way out of proportion. Most nuclear waste is not long term, only a small fraction is the stuff that lasts thousands of years, and the US already has more than enough storage built to store all long term nuclear waste for every reactor in operation several times over. But most of the programs to actually implement these processes have been cancelled because of various anti-nuclear and NIMBY groups. So instead in most cases… That waste just gets stored on site, at the nuclear plant. Which isn’t particularly an issue, but I think we can all agree is the worst option of all if you’re worried about potential contamination.