A Thorium Reactor Has Rewritten the Rules of Nuclear Power
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a64550626/thorium-reactor-nuclear-power/
A Thorium Reactor Has Rewritten the Rules of Nuclear Power
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a64550626/thorium-reactor-nuclear-power/
23 Comments
Submission statement
Thorium is more abundant and less hazardous than uranium. When exposed to neutrons, it transforms into uranium-233, which can sustain nuclear reactions. The molten salt reactor design dissolves this fuel in a liquid salt mixture that also acts as a coolant. Unlike water-cooled reactors, molten salt reactors operate at atmospheric pressure and are less prone to meltdowns.
China’s reactor also achieved the milestone of being refueled while still running, showing potential for continuous operation. While this technology was first tested in the U.S. in the 1960s, it was abandoned due to shifting priorities. China’s success revives interest in thorium and molten salt reactors as a future solution for clean, reliable energy.
Imagine if the world hadn’t decided to design our power source based on the ability to codesign weapons…
So sad that we had this technology in the 60s and decided to just ignore it.
The thorium nuclear revolution could shape our century and help the human species to get past, once and for all, fossil fuels, right now the renewable resources cant offer a continous energy production.
We could greatly improve the renewables efficiency, however a “clean” nuclear with thorium is a huge advance!
Where does the expected costs per MWh stand and how is that compared to renewables.
Always having in mind that this can produce energy continuously.
Thorium is so sick. I did a presentation in High School about how awesome having Thorium reactors would be for energy production. Hoping we can live in a future where energy isn’t a luxury but a right. Would change society forever 🙂
from a Russian source:
**Thorium indeed has enormous potential, but:**
✔ It is not a “ready-to-use” fuel—it requires complex processing.
✔ The technology is still under development—China is just at the beginning of this journey.
✔ Uranium and plutonium remain more cost-effective for now—the infrastructure is already in place.
Most likely, thorium will become part of future energy systems, but not before 2040–2050. For now, the bold headlines about “limitless energy” are more marketing than reality.
I’m very excited for this step forward and hope that thorium reactors are mass produced
No it hasn’t yet – it is still not as cost-effective and scalable as renewables. Anything that still needs years of development and then even more years of building and logistics around it will not help our climate crisis at all. It’s just too slow.
I’m excited to see ANY new reactor development, but let’s face it, for a while Thorium was a futurology meme without any critical thought, much like the “solar roadways” trend.
It’s an achievement, but not that revolutionary.
The MSRE reactor at Oak Ridge the article references in 1965 used U-233 that was bred from thorium. This validated the thorium cycle. The U.S. just lost interest because they didn’t need to do it.
The Chinese reactor is only 2 MW thermal, still experimental size. The reactor they plan to build in 2030 is only 60MW thermal and 10MW electric.
India has a more ambitious program. They have 25% of known world thorium and little uranium.
It’s an achievement, but not that revolutionary.
The MSRE reactor at Oak Ridge the article references in 1965 used U-233 that was bred from thorium. This validated the thorium cycle. The U.S. just lost interest because they didn’t need to do it.
The Chinese reactor is only 2 MW thermal, still experimental size. The reactor they plan to build in 2030 is only 60MW thermal and 10MW electric.
India has a more ambitious program. They have 25% of known world thorium and little uranium.
I disagree. While a very dope advancement I think current nuclear is already awesome and people are just too scared of it.
Awesome to see advancement made still ofc
I remember mining Thorium in World of Warcraft, always thought it was a weird element to include in the game, and made my teeth itch.
Thorium was abandoned because it couldn’t produce the stuff we needed to make nuclear bombs.
Glad to see this is finally getting the attention it deserves. Sad it wasn’t implemented sooner, this reactor design has been around since the 50’s
Molten salt reactors aren’t anything new. They just aren’t used that often because of how bad they are to work on.
Refueling them is always a process because they can’t be taken below the melting point of whatever salt is used.
This makes them very easy to “brick” – Just ask the Soviet submarine forces.
We get it, china is advancing faster than the US while America wastes time and resources bombing malnourished people in the Desert, China is slowly becoming the new superpower for the second half of the 21st century.
I wrote a paper on thorium reactors 15 years ago. Is sad anti nuclear sentiment fueled by competing companies has dampened progress so much.
This has been India’s nuclear program plan for the last 80 years.
This shits been old and proven, the only rule rewritten is that nuclear power needs to produce fuel for weapons. Shits safer and abundant and ppl have been working to transition to this for decades. Good on them, but holding out for the other groups doing this as well.
If they’re able to start building a reactor that will actually produce energy tomorrow go for it
But if they can’t… we can build solar panels and windmills right now. And it’s really cheap
What are the waste products, and hownare they disposed of?