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China Set to Begin First Trials of Thorium Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor

posted by martyb on Sunday August 29 2021, @01:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the glowing-recommendation? dept.

wirelessduck writes:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-28/china-thorium-molten-salt-nuclear-reactor-energy/100351932

Scientists in China are about to turn on for the first time an experimental reactor that's believed by some to be the Holy Grail of nuclear energy — safer, cheaper and with less potential for weaponisation.

Construction on the thorium-based molten salt reactor was expected to be finished this month with the first tests to begin as early as September, according to a statement from the Gansu provincial government.

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @08:02AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @08:02AM (#1172254)

    There is already some info from experimental verification for this, check the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-Salt_Reactor_Experiment [wikipedia.org] from Oak Ridge in the 60s. While not a completely finished plant (missing the actual breeding from Thorium) it was in operation for several years demonstrating the possibility of molten salt systems.

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  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by HiThere on Monday August 30 2021, @01:46PM

    by HiThere (866) on Monday August 30 2021, @01:46PM (#1172319) Journal

    Yes, some preliminary tests have been done, but they haven't been done on any current design. So the approach is guaranteed to have certain capabilities, but it's not guaranteed what the costs will be, or whether it can be done at scale, or...well, lots of things. Many designs work fine in the lab, but fail on even pilot projects. In some fields it's well over half of the designs that fail, I don't know about nuclear reactors.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by FatPhil on Monday August 30 2021, @05:33PM

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Monday August 30 2021, @05:33PM (#1172401) Homepage
    It's funny how China can simultaniously be 5 decades behind the USA, and ahead at the same time.
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