CHINESE FREIGHT TRAIN SLAMS INTO NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS

The Chinese have done it again. They are building the world's first commercially viable, thorium-powered, "molten salt" nuclear reactor in Wuwei, Gansu province in the Gobi Desert. I will explain all these shortly - bukan saya faham sangat but I have known about this stuff from a very long time ago.

Here is a 30 minute video which is long on technical stuff but very short on details. But if you listen carefully you can get what the Science guy is saying. If you like the quick version do read the rest of my post first and then come back to listen to the video. 

Lets get to the bottom line. What does this mean? It means super cheap, safe and limit-lessly abundant energy (electrical power generation). It means that not only regular nuclear reactors but oil, gas and hydro electricity are all going to disappear. Adios. Buy BYD shares.

How soon? Maybe starting in the next 10 - 15 years. (But this is China, so it could happen next week. In FIVE months the Chinese can introduce THREE, brand new 6th Gen stealth jet fighters. Do you see why "China must be destroyed'?) 

Where? China is possibly already building more of the thorium reactors. This video here suggests that they will export this tech to all those 'One Belt One Road' countries. There is some logic to this. Data Centers, AI and high speed trains - all of which require huge amounts of cheap and super reliable energy.

Here is some background.  A nuclear power station runs on Uranium - which is found only behind Albert Einstein's backyard. It is quite rare and it is highly radioactive. 

Thorium is about FOUR times more abundant than uranium in the Earth's crust. It's found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, and is more evenly distributed than uranium.

So thorium can be found behind your backyard. Yes you can start digging now.

A thorium reactor works by converting thorium-232 into fissile uranium-233, which then undergoes fission to release energy. This process is known as the thorium fuel cycle.  There is a chain reaction caused by neutron absorption (from the thorium) and fission events (in the uranium that is produced) to generate heat. The heat is then used to produce steam, which drives turbines to generate electricity

The other plus point is that thorium is a weakly radioactive element.  Its natural form is non-toxic to humans. This means handling and storage of thorium is so much cheaper which then reduces the cost to generate electricity.

Thorium is a naturally occurring, weakly radioactive element. Its main isotope, Thorium-232, has a very long half-life (14 billion years). This means it decays very slowly, making it relatively less radioactive than other isotopes or radioactive elements

It is a 'heavy' element with an atomic number of 232. It can be "processed" and made unstable whereby it 'absorbs' neutrons and becomes uranium 233. Just read this slowly, it can be understood.

A molten salt thorium reactor, specifically a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR), works by dissolving thorium fluoride in a molten salt, typically a lithium-beryllium fluoride mixture (FLiBe), which serves as both the fuel and coolant. Neutrons from a fission reaction, either in a starting fissile material or in a breeding process, cause thorium-232 to capture neutrons, transforming into protactinium-233, which then decays to uranium-233, a fissile fuel. The heated molten salt then transfers heat to a secondary loop, where it drives a turbine to generate electricity.

The main thing to remember from all this is that a thorium "molten salt" reactor DOES NOT NEED COOLING WATER. That is why the Chinese built their thorium reactor in the Gobi Desert. 

They use molten salt (not our table salt for frying fish and cooking chicken) but some type of fluoride. The molten salt acts as both the 'kicker' for the neutrons, as the heat transfer element to transfer heat to the heat exchanger / turbine etc and also as the coolant to keep the temperature down.

This means that a Three Mile Island disaster, a Chernobyl type disaster or a Fukushima disaster are highly unlikely.  Because there is no 'billion gallons of radioactive cooling water' involved.  Folks, in Fukushima the radioactive cooling water escaped into the sea. They are not telling the people everything. Possibly some Japanese people (who eat plenty of seafood) appear fairer at night than before.

Yes, thorium reactors produce radioactive waste, though it is generally considered to be less long-lived and less radiotoxic than that produced by uranium reactors. While the initial thorium itself is not highly radioactive, the fission products and the transmutation products (like uranium-233) within the reactor are radioactive and require careful handling and storage.

Yes there will be radioactive waste but inside the reactor core. Which can be handled appropriately.

How much cheaper? Building the thorium reactor could be just as expensive as a uranium reactor. It is the fuel cost and hence the operations cost that is way cheaper than a uranium fueled reactor. 

Thorium is an abundant material, relative to uranium. Raw thorium costs about one third the price of uranium. And thorium does not need to be 'enriched' like uranium before it can be used in a reactor - which adds tremendously to the high cost of uranium fuel. Bottom line is thorium is cheap energy. And you can build it in the middle of the Gobi Desert, the Taklamakan Desert etc (for easier nuclear waste management) where there are few people, where the sheep and camels graze. 

This is a Sputnik event in nuclear energy. Next up is the Chinese fusion reactor.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.