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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Lmao, 10MW. That’s the equivalent of like 2,000 solar panels. How big is this reactor and how much space is required for operations?
I get so tired of these shit takes that obviously haven't put much thought into the topic based on the clear barely surface level perspective, but love to repeat the same talking points confidently.
Most renewables like solar and wind cannot handle the second and third points well, of at all. And options that can like hydro and geothermal power are very location dependent.
You need to stop thinking of nuclear as an alternative to renewables and instead as the replacement for the fossil fuel plants that provide base power generation 24/7/365 like coal, gas, and the peaker plants.
Renewables alone do not solve modern societal power needs, but we can replace fossil fuels immediately with better options, like nuclear. As it is uranium power plants are extremely misunderstood by the public from decades of disinformation from the fossil fuel AND renewable industries and a fundamental misunderstanding of radioactivity by the public. Thorium specifically goes around that by removing the uranium Boogeyman, and meltdown risk. Most molten salt reactor designs operate on a Fail-Safe design principle that doesn't require power to continuously cool the fuel to prevent meltdown like most current uranium reactors do, instead requiring power to prevent that failsafe, often via an ice plug actively keeping the fuel in the system for operation.
I get that and a research reactor is a fine thing, but I'd like to have gotten some info about the scaling potential. Like are there obstacles to large scale utility power being generated with thorium?
I'm not sure if larger scale is the goal of thorium reactors. The benefit of using thorium is that it is safe to use and available everywhere.
The companies that are researching it here in Denmark are aiming at making smaller reactors the size of shipping containers, so that they can be deployed anywhere needed.
Sure, scaling by quantity is also scaling, but the point is that if they can make one that is financially viable, then they can also make a hundred or thousands of them. In that case, large nuclear reactors will be obsolete.
Wait, thorium reactors can be build small enough to fit in shipping containers? That would be incredible. I know they are now working on SMR reactors with helium as coolant that are very safe because nothing is under extreme pressure and explode even if there is a meltdown. ~~Reading on wiki it seems there is a SMR with thorium fuel cycle, but~~ EDIT: Copenhagen atomics really is building a thorium molten salt reactor that is safe from meltdown!
That's the plan anyway. As far as I know they haven't done it yet, but testing is planned for 2027.
https://www.copenhagenatomics.com/
Well the small reactors still have to be cost competitive.