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 4 days ago by schizoidman@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world
245 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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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[–] sibachian@lemmy.ml 44 points 3 days ago (2 children)

it should perhaps be pointed out that we originally had proposition for both reactors but we ended up with uranium reactors because the US wanted a reason to mine uranium for nuclear bombs and were well aware of the risk difference but didn't care about the potential lives being lost if something went wrong. later, the cost to develop a thorium reactor had no monetary benefits beyond generating power and keeping people safe so no country wanted to invest in it when the uranium blueprints were available, literally because of capitalism.

[–] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, the title calls this out... "Strategic Stamina". Something meant countries just don't have anymore

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

All nuclear programs were started for military purposes. "Civilian" nuclear power has always been a fig leaf. While the current Chinese thorium effort is a break from that tradition, it'll be far too late to make any impact.

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Is it actually a break from that tradition? As tech requires more energy, and militaries become more technological, advancing thorium as an energy source that can be done domestically and no longer needing to rely on as much foreign crude, like Canada is gearing up to provide to them, is also a way to support military applications.