Scientists in China have achieved a major milestone in clean energy generation. According to Interesting Engineering, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have built the world’s first working thorium molten salt reactor (MSR). The big breakthrough came when they successfully loaded fresh fuel into the working reactor.

Up to this point, uranium has been used in nuclear power. The use of uranium creates long-lived nuclear waste that’s not only highly radioactive, but it can also be used to manufacture some of the most dangerous weapons on the planet. Besides that, if something goes wrong at a nuclear facility, the results can be catastrophic.

Thorium, on the other hand, creates less nuclear waste that’s less radioactive, has a shorter lifespan, and is more difficult to weaponize. MSRs are also safer because the molten salt acts as a coolant. On top of that, thorium is incredibly abundant.

Construction on the reactor in the Gobi Desert, which has a two megawatt output, began in 2018, but research started decades earlier halfway around the world. American researchers built and tested MSRs in the 1960s but moved on to focus on uranium-based technology. The research was made public, and that’s where the Chinese researchers took on the mantle.

Xu Hongjie, the chief scientist on the project, and his team studied the American research and recreated the old experiments before further developing the technology.

“We mastered every technique in the literature — then pushed further,” Xu said.

Fission technology, which thorium MSR uses, is a cheaper way to generate energy compared to sources like coal and natural gas — savings that would presumably be passed on to consumers. It also doesn’t release planet-warming pollution like those dirty energy sources. 

China is already in the process of building a much larger thorium MSR that will generate 10 megawatts. It’s scheduled to be operational by 2030.

But it’s not stopping there. China has announced plans to manufacture container ships that will be powered by thorium, as well, which will go a long way toward reducing the country’s carbon pollution output. Chinese container ships, domestic and international, are responsible for nearly 80 tons of carbon pollution annually.

These are just a couple of examples of how China is diversifying its clean energy infrastructure. It’s currently the world leader in clean energy development. China recently unveiled the world’s largest floating wind turbine and plans to build an even bigger one. China also boasts the world’s two largest solar farms, with another even larger solar farm currently in development.

The easiest way for consumers to take advantage of clean energy tech is to install solar panels. In the U.S., EnergySage provides a free service that allows consumers to compare quotes from local installers and potentially save thousands of dollars.

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