Thorium nuclear reactor: the (Chinese) way to clean energy is now almost complete

The thorium molten salt reactor being built in Wuwei by the Chinese government is almost complete and opens up the prospect of obtaining a relatively safe, carbon-free energy source whose source is widely available in the earth's crust. An achievement that sees the protagonist of one of the governments that proved to be more skeptical and reluctant from the point of view of climate change.

The liquefied thorium salt reactor uses a fuel, thorium, which naturally has a low radioactivity. The thorium fission cycle is triggered by the bombardment of thorium 232 which, hit by a neutron, first becomes Proactinium 233 and then Uranium 233, a fissile material which then continues in the fission cycle by emitting energy. The difference from normal fission reactors is that a chain reaction cannot be triggered: without the initial injection of neutrons the cycle is not triggered, therefore, in an emergency, the reaction can be easily interrupted. Furthermore, the reactor also has other advantages.

• the obtained uranium 233 is mixed with U231, which makes it useless for enrichment for military purposes. The thorium reactor is compatible with adherence to nuclear non-proliferation treaties;
• thorium is widely available, three times more abundant than uranium;
• thorium has a series of physical characteristics that would make it more suitable for energy use than uranium;
• the decay times of by-products are much shorter than those of uranium, so there is less problem with the storage of waste;
• thorium reactors use molten salts of the element for cooling, not using water in direct contact and operating at much higher temperatures.

Obviously, the construction of a thorium molten salt reactor (in China we speak of thorium fluorides) presents significant engineering problems, linked to the pressure and operating temperatures, but it seems that they have succeeded. It seems incredible that a technology that has been studied for decades in the West (the first experiments date back to the sixties) is being implemented in China relatively quickly. Maybe, let's say maybe, the first similar European experiment will start in the Netherlands in 2024. But we impose “Green” energy. What we do not have, and we are unable to produce.

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The article Thorium nuclear reactor: the (Chinese) way to clean energy is now almost finished comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/reattore-nucleare-a-torio-ormai-e-quasi-terminata-la-via-cinese-allenergia-pulita/ on Mon, 27 Dec 2021 11:00:01 +0000.