Of interest to you?
But way ahead of everything everyone else does.
Why aren’t we testing one here?
“Corrosion caused by the hot salt cracked pipes and the weak radioactivity of thorium makes it very difficult for fission reactions to build up to sustainable levels without adding uranium.”
It’s not clear, from the article, whether the Chinese were able to remove this uranium requirement. Requiring uranium kind of spoils the point.
So, we here in the US were concerned with the “china syndrome” (per jane fonda) so would the chinese be concerned about the ‘US syndrome’? Do kids in china think if they dig a hole deep enough they’ll get to the US?
A minor quibble - it actually does run on Uranium. Thorium 232 absorbs a neutron and becomes fissile U-233.
Sounds like a high tech version of Slime, a self-sealing goo for bicycle tires. That doesn’t work that well...
Thorium is a good idea. Reactors built in China are not.
“When bombarded with high energy neutrons, thorium atoms transform into uranium-233, an isotope of uranium which can then split, releasing energy and even more neutrons through a process called nuclear fission. This starts a chain reaction”
And where do these high energy neutrons come from?
This is the generation technology of the figure. Because it doesn’t depend on water cooling it can be located where power is needed rather than where water is available.
Do not trust ANYTHING the Chinese do, say or report.
We should have built one of these, and done it years ago. The US has lost the innovation edge when it comes to fission energy production - China is now leading the way. Meanwhile, we continue to import solar panels that China builds for us but is far too smart to rely on itself.
How much can you trust Red China? There things always break. How safe can they be?
How much can you trust Red China? There things always break. How safe can they be?
This is not the first reactor to be cooled without water. The US built the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) at Hanford beginning in the mid 70’s. It was cooled by liquid sodium and and tested to perform if the pumping system quit. It was shown the the liquid sodium provided enough creep through the system to maintain cooling until reactor shutdown.
Operation of the facility also produced medical isotopes to use to fight cancers and there was hope that that mission alone would justify continued operations beyond that a purely scientific reactor research project. Alas, the sky is falling anti nuke crowd won out and the Clinton administration shut the plant down.
We tried liquid metal cooled(no water) reactors back when USS Seawolf went to sea? It was a disaster, due to corrosion, IIRC. And the fact that if there was a leak or doing any kind of maintenance, the solvents that needed to be used, and danger of fire or explosions were real problems.
A reactor that we invented at Oak Ridge, made all the information public and then destroyed.
I am all in on Thorium, though. I am puzzled as to why (except for the bad word “radioactivity”) it has not been pursued.
I guess that word is enough for a lot of people.