China Gains Massive Edge In Clean Nuclear Energy Race, Thanks To US Research Shelved In 1960s

China's breakthrough can breed uranium from thorium for nuclear energy — a move that could substantially eliminate radioactive waste. (Photo source: Unsplash) Show Quick Read Summary is AI Generated. Newsroom Reviewed

After nearly 15 years of rigorous research, China has finally cracked a way to access almost an unlimited amount of nuclear energy through converting thorium to uranium with their experimental salt reactor, reports said this week.

The two megawatt liquid-fuelled thorium-based molten salt reactor or TMSR was developed in the Gobi Desert by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, and is the only one to have achieved this historical feat in fuel conversion.

The academy told South China Morning Post that the experiment is the first step t