Well..this is new! Long considered to be the next big step in atomic power generation..this is a game-changer--and to think they did by taking old US plans and using them as their basis!
interestingengineering.com
Chinese scientists have completed a major breakthrough in clean energy by reloading fresh fuel into a working thorium molten salt reactor.
They did this while the reactor continued running, marking a significant step forward in the global push to use thorium as a safer and more abundant alternative to uranium in nuclear power.
The milestone was revealed at a closed-door meeting on April 8 at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), where project chief scientist Xu Hongjie shared the news with colleagues.
In the 1960s, American researchers built and tested early molten salt reactors, but the United States eventually shelved the program in favor of uranium-based technology. “The US left its research publicly available, waiting for the right successor,” Xu said. “We were that successor.”
Xu and his team at the CAS Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics studied declassified American documents, recreated the old experiments, and then developed the technology further. “We mastered every technique in the literature – then pushed further,” he said.
The team’s efforts ramped up quickly. Construction on the current reactor began in 2018, and the team grew from a few dozen researchers to more than 400.
Many skipped holidays and stayed on-site for most of the year. The reactor reached criticality in October 2023, achieved full-power operation by June 2024, and successfully completed in-operation thorium reloading just four months later.
The country is already building a much larger thorium molten salt reactor that is scheduled to reach criticality by 2030 and generate 10 megawatts of electricity.
Meanwhile, China’s shipbuilding industry has also unveiled blueprints for thorium-powered container ships that could enable zero-emission sea transport.
China builds world’s first thorium reactor with US secret files
After years of research and US data analysis, China has built a working thorium reactor and run it through a successful fuel reload.
interestingengineering.com
Chinese scientists have completed a major breakthrough in clean energy by reloading fresh fuel into a working thorium molten salt reactor.
They did this while the reactor continued running, marking a significant step forward in the global push to use thorium as a safer and more abundant alternative to uranium in nuclear power.
The milestone was revealed at a closed-door meeting on April 8 at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), where project chief scientist Xu Hongjie shared the news with colleagues.
In the 1960s, American researchers built and tested early molten salt reactors, but the United States eventually shelved the program in favor of uranium-based technology. “The US left its research publicly available, waiting for the right successor,” Xu said. “We were that successor.”
Xu and his team at the CAS Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics studied declassified American documents, recreated the old experiments, and then developed the technology further. “We mastered every technique in the literature – then pushed further,” he said.
The team’s efforts ramped up quickly. Construction on the current reactor began in 2018, and the team grew from a few dozen researchers to more than 400.
Many skipped holidays and stayed on-site for most of the year. The reactor reached criticality in October 2023, achieved full-power operation by June 2024, and successfully completed in-operation thorium reloading just four months later.
The country is already building a much larger thorium molten salt reactor that is scheduled to reach criticality by 2030 and generate 10 megawatts of electricity.
Meanwhile, China’s shipbuilding industry has also unveiled blueprints for thorium-powered container ships that could enable zero-emission sea transport.
