Thats just how this stuff goes. You use the old tech to make the new tech. Then the old tech gets phased out. China is actively phasing out the old tech. Nobody else is really. Thorium Salt reactors powering directed energy weapons will replace fossil fuel powered missiles eventually for example. Small Modular Reactors. Can power naval vessels, planes, trains, etc. We likely hit peak oil already. That is when we used up over 50% of accessible oil reserves. WW3 when it happens will likely burn through most of what is left in a few years. Then whichever nation can keep fighting without oil wins. The only one preparing for that is China. Because the only tech we could feasibly have ready within 20 years to replace oil in many areas is Small Modular Thorium-Salt Reactors.
The article gets a lot right, but theyre missing some key parts of the puzzle too.
To be clear its a thorium AND salt reactor not Thorium salt. The reactant is Thorium which is cooled by molten salt. As for renewable, or finite. Everything is finite technically i suppose. Even the sun eventually burns out. But China has enough thorium to power their nation for 30,000 years. So id say it should be plenty. lol.
The advantages are how common it is. Vs something like Uranium, and how stable it is. You dont need big steam towers to prevent run away criticality and can make rather small reactors. Portable ones even. No need for water the molten salt is a self contained cooling system.
Its the stepping stone to fusion. Thorium is everything we ever hoped fission nuclear power could be, and will tide us over until we figure fusion out. Or find something else better. A few dozen millenia should be plenty of time for that unless we really manage to fuck it up.
China already has a few working prototypes. 😋 Give them another 20 years, and theyll be launching space exploration drones powered by small portable thorium reactors imo.
Thats just how this stuff goes. You use the old tech to make the new tech. Then the old tech gets phased out. China is actively phasing out the old tech. Nobody else is really. Thorium Salt reactors powering directed energy weapons will replace fossil fuel powered missiles eventually for example. Small Modular Reactors. Can power naval vessels, planes, trains, etc. We likely hit peak oil already. That is when we used up over 50% of accessible oil reserves. WW3 when it happens will likely burn through most of what is left in a few years. Then whichever nation can keep fighting without oil wins. The only one preparing for that is China. Because the only tech we could feasibly have ready within 20 years to replace oil in many areas is Small Modular Thorium-Salt Reactors.
The article gets a lot right, but theyre missing some key parts of the puzzle too.
Is Thorium-Salt something that is renewable, or just a relatively untapped finite resource?
To be clear its a thorium AND salt reactor not Thorium salt. The reactant is Thorium which is cooled by molten salt. As for renewable, or finite. Everything is finite technically i suppose. Even the sun eventually burns out. But China has enough thorium to power their nation for 30,000 years. So id say it should be plenty. lol.
The advantages are how common it is. Vs something like Uranium, and how stable it is. You dont need big steam towers to prevent run away criticality and can make rather small reactors. Portable ones even. No need for water the molten salt is a self contained cooling system.
Its the stepping stone to fusion. Thorium is everything we ever hoped fission nuclear power could be, and will tide us over until we figure fusion out. Or find something else better. A few dozen millenia should be plenty of time for that unless we really manage to fuck it up.
China already has a few working prototypes. 😋 Give them another 20 years, and theyll be launching space exploration drones powered by small portable thorium reactors imo.