this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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China has world’s first operational thorium nuclear reactor thanks to ‘strategic stamina’ (www.scmp.com)
submitted 3 days ago by schizoidman@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world
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https://archive.is/2nQSh

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 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.

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[–] Rolder@reddthat.com 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You do lose quite a bit of electricity going over long distances, but can overcome that with sheer volume. But that also means the closer the generator to the consumer, the more efficient it’ll be.

[–] Uranium_Green@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

An interesting aspect of this is when trying to mover power over long distances AC becomes inefficient and High Voltage DC becomes the more efficient option.

Between 2-3% for HVDC vs 6-7% for AC systems when transmitting over 1000km.