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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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China Set to Begin First Trials of Thorium Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor
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(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Monday August 30 2021, @12:52PM
You sure about that? I mean, they've been studying the things since the 40s, and built a MSR test reactor in 1965 that ran for 13,000 hours: https://www.ornl.gov/molten-salt-reactor/history [ornl.gov]
And it seems likely that other experimental reactors have been built and tested as well.
Granted, I'm not sure just how many stress-tests and failure modes they really subjected it to, or how many other experimental reactors have built. And there's often some surprises when scaling things up from experimental prototype to commercial scale. But it's not like the things are purely theoretical either.