China has world’s first operational thorium nuclear reactor thanks to ‘strategic stamina’ (www.scmp.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by schizoidman@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world

151 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

(page 2) 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Who still thinks the South Chinese Morning Post is a legit source after what happened to Hong Kong needs a reality check.

[-] vivendi@programming.dev 0 points 2 weeks ago

SCMP is one of the most libshit news in China

Also, chill it cracker, it's news about a reactor, we don't need your state dept. programming here

[-] Valmond@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Joined 2 weeks ago, spews bs & propaganda.

Also, "cracker" ?? 🥴🤣 Is this supposed to be some very dangerous insult lol

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Gemeinagent@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

Uh, what about the THTR-300 that operated at 300MW capacity from 1987 to 1989?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

It was a total failure, though. Not quite Chernobyl, but it was plagued by incidents.

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Honestly, I'm not a nuclear physicist by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm not sure how they plan to emergency cool the reactor to prevent a meltdown if it's filled with molten salt. Anything colder than molten salt going into the reactor would cause it to be clogged up by not-molten salt.

At least the THTR seemed to have cooling capabilities as the foremost priority.

load more comments (5 replies)

[-] WrenFeathers@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

“Strategic Stamina,” Is that what they’re calling the 996 now?

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thorium tarnishes to olive grey when exposed to air. This makes it kinda greenish. Green is the color of stamina, so this checks out.

[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If you’re feeling out of breath, drink a thorium potion!

load more comments

this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025

91 points (98.9% liked)

Technology

69729 readers

1834 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related news or articles.
Be excellent to each other!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

L3s@lemmy.world

enu@lemmy.world

technopagan@lemmy.world

L4s@lemmy.world

L3s@hackingne.ws

L4s@hackingne.ws