To: Les H who wrote (45152 ) 3/1/2025 10:03:11 AM From: Les H Respond to Why China Is Building a Thorium Molten-Salt ReactorThe attraction of thorium is that it can help achieve energy self-sufficiency by reducing dependence on uranium, particularly for countries such as India with enormous thorium reserves . But China may source it in a different way: The element is a waste product of China’s huge rare earth mining industry. Harnessing it would provide a practically inexhaustible supply of fuel. Already, China’s Gansu province has maritime and aerospace applications in mind for this future energy supply, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency . But China isn’t alone in its thorium aspirations. Japan , the United Kingdom, and the United States, in addition to India , have shown interest in the fuel at one point or another. The proliferation issue doesn’t seem to be a showstopper, and there are ways to mitigate the risk. Denmark’s Copenhagen Atomics , for example, currently aims to develop a thorium-based molten-salt reactor, with a 1-MW pilot planned for 2026. The company plans to weld it shut so that would-be thieves would have to break open a highly radioactive system to get at the weapon-ready material. Chicago-based Clean Core Thorium Energy developed a blended thorium and enriched uranium (including high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU ) fuel, which they say can’t be used in a weapon. The fuel is designed for heavy-water reactors. IEEE Updated: Feb 28, 2025 08:59 AM EST Interesting Engineering
