China Makes Breakthrough With Thorium Nuclear Reactor

[Maxmars]

Nope.  The principle reason we are technologically committed to Uranium is because we were the first nation to establish a nuclear weapons program. That required us to make a big investment in Uranium enrichment--which we did with the Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee during the Manhattan Project in WWII.  Once we had the enrichment capability, that made it possible to make smaller reactors with enriched fuel, all the way down to Nuclear Submarine reactors the size of a large garbage can.  The Atomic Energy Commission considered whether the US should go with Thorium reactors for civilian use (some time in the 1960s, as I recall) and decided that it was more cost-effective to stay with enriched Uranium, since we already had the infrastructure to do that. Other nations like Canada, for example, decided to go with non-enriched Uranium, which requires special moderators, like heavy water.  So they developed their CANDU reactors so that they would not have to invest in Uranium enrichment.

Edward Teller was a senior advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission when that decision was made and later in life he became convinced they made the wrong choice.  That's when he became a strong advocate for Thorium-based fission reactors along the lines of what the Chinese just demonstrated.  As the Chinese pointed out, they got most of their design data for their Thorium reactor from the US after it was declassified by the AEC.  

Bill Gates is a strong advocate for Thorium reactors and was willing to fund a demonstration unit in the US, but eventually decided that the licensing and permitting process was much too cumbersome and that China was a better bet.

By similar reasoning the very idea of a thorium-focused technological change is a national threat.

Because our predecessors "invested heavily" we are now "committed" to reject the notion as "a nope."

I really don't embrace this as viable ... for more than money reasons... so I don't really sway to the 'look who else says something along those lines..." to me it is irrelevant.

When I speak the words of others it's intentional... as in thought out...

It seems to me that any nation with the resources and no entrenched "economic monoliths" to contend with would do well do develop this...

[Tecate]

Agreed. 
The infrastructure can be built as long as the engineering is done correctly and all of the other parts are nailed down.

Fighting against entrenched power is likely going to be the hardest part. The Alberta government has been looking at building small reactors in the province, so I really hope that they see this and look into it closely and carefully as a consideration.

anyhoo, my 2 pesos…


Tecate

[quintessentone]

By similar reasoning the very idea of a thorium-focused technological change is a national threat.

Because our predecessors "invested heavily" we are now "committed" to reject the notion as "a nope."

I really don't embrace this as viable ... for more than money reasons... so I don't really sway to the 'look who else says something along those lines..." to me it is irrelevant.

When I speak the words of others it's intentional... as in thought out...

It seems to me that any nation with the resources and no entrenched "economic monoliths" to contend with would do well do develop this...

Just as China did with manufacturing an affordable electric car, this too would collapse existing traditional car manufacturing should affordability seep in. Hey, there is our answer as to why Trump can't make America affordable again, gotta keep the status quo quoing along.

[WallFlowerActive]

Just as China did with manufacturing an affordable electric car, this too would collapse existing traditional car manufacturing should affordability seep in. Hey, there is our answer as to why Trump can't make America affordable again, gotta keep the status quo quoing along.

I think it has more to do with China using forced labor and cheap dirty energy. Along with not paying to use technologies stolen from the west to market manipulation.  Along with the US having more stringent worker safety enforcement and environmentally standards being actually enforced. But keep spreading lies and propaganda.

[WallFlowerActive]

Agreed. 
The infrastructure can be built as long as the engineering is done correctly and all of the other parts are nailed down.

Fighting against entrenched power is likely going to be the hardest part. The Alberta government has been looking at building small reactors in the province, so I really hope that they see this and look into it closely and carefully as a consideration.

anyhoo, my 2 pesos…


Tecate

Why does China keep doubling down on building coal powered power plants…

[quintessentone]

I think it has more to do with China using forced labor and cheap dirty energy. Along with not paying to use technologies stolen from the west to market manipulation.  Along with the US having more stringent worker safety enforcement and environmentally standards being actually enforced. But keep spreading lies and propaganda.

worker safety...environmental standards...see: Musk firing all oversight to building and operating his AI plants - bought and paid for government you got there.

[Raptured]

"Any threat to big-oil is a threat to 'Merica and Freedom!"

(said in a rednecky, slightly southern-draw voice)

[WallFlowerActive]

worker safety...environmental standards...see: Musk firing all oversight to building and operating his AI plants - bought and paid for government you got there.

Businesses can’t fire government inspectors from OSHA and the EPA in the US.  Nor get out of inspections and producing required records and results from required environmental testing.

Might try to better understand a companies safety department vs actual oversight from the state governments and federal government.

I guess it must be confusing since China is basically a state corporation that is a monopoly onto itself.  Nothing like the government oversight of worker safety and environmental in the USA.  Added Where state governments and the federal provide tandem oversight.

[quintessentone]

Businesses can’t fire government inspectors from OSHA and the EPA in the US.  Nor get out of inspections and producing required records and results from required environmental testing.

Might try to better understand a companies safety department vs actual oversight from the state governments and federal government.

I guess it must be confusing since China is basically a state corporation that is a monopoly onto itself.  Nothing like the government oversight of worker safety and environmental in the USA.

 

Nobody is inspecting Musk's AI plants even while the people are complaining.

OSHA and EPA have done nothing. Government has done nothing.

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is the only one that did anything about it, by filing a lawsuit.

"We Are SELC 
Nonprofit and nonpartisan, we are the Southern Environmental Law Center. The South’s largest and most effective environmental advocate and protector."

"Nobody voted for dirty air and water."

[WallFlowerActive]

Nobody is inspecting Musk's AI plants even while the people are complaining.

OSHA and EPA have done nothing.

Any actual proof that the state and federal OSHA and environmental agencies.  Along with inspections from fire codes and building codes at the city and county levels are not being kept.

Or you just trying to change the subject using false assurances where all of China is ran in the manner of your allegations against one company.  Where you ignore numerous county, state, and federal agencies would have to be bypassed.

This is how crapy China is concerning the environment.  

China is the pariah of the seasBY GORDON G. CHANG, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 12/18/25 09:30 AM ET

 

Paskal was referring to island societies in the Pacific. Across the Pacific — and across the world — China’s fishing fleets are plundering the waters of other countries. The result, even for larger communities, can be devastating. 
 

“The leading global maritime security threat today is not piracy, but rather illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and China is once again the kingpin,” wrote Raul Pedrozo, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, in 2022. His comment is even truer today.  
China now has 57,000 “industrial fishing vessels,” and, according to a study produced by Global Fishing Watch, an independent nonprofit, that country accounted for “44 percent of the world’s visible fishing activity” during the three-year period beginning in 2022. 
The Chinese scoop up fish with the help of “motherships,” such as the Hai Feng 718, operated by the Chinese National Fisheries Corp. These are massive refrigerated vessels that allow smaller ships to unload their catch at sea, allowing the smaller boats to continue fishing and “underreport the catch and disguise its origins.”
https://thehill.com/opinion/internationa...ities/amp/

And that’s just one arm of Chinese industry, how it treats the world and locals.  Not one company.