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SvennoJ on 17 September 2024
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BFR said:
LegitHyperbole said:

Nuclear energy is so much safer these days. It's such a pity we aren't using it. Chinas over there building a thorium reactor and we're freezing grannies to death in the name of renewable energy.

Also, these thorium reactors exist at the experimental level today.  Just because something exists at the experimental stage today is no guarantee it will be commercially viable soon.

"By 2019 two of the reactors were under construction in the Gobi desert, with completion expected around 2025. China expects to put thorium reactors into commercial use by 2030."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power#China

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Operating-permit-issued-for-Chinese-molten-salt-re

The Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been granted an operating licence for the experimental TMSR-LF1 thorium-powered molten-salt reactor, construction of which started in Wuwei city, Gansu province, in September 2018.

Construction of the TMSR-LF1 reactor began in September 2018 and was scheduled to be completed in 2024. However, it was reportedly completed in August 2021 after work was accelerated.

Build in half the time, got the license to run last year. It seems they're well on schedule.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-06/china-building-thorium-nuclear-power-station-gobi/104304468

Construction on the research facility is due to start next year with operation expected in 2030, followed by full-scale production.

According to the report, a prototype TMSR at the same location, which was designed to produce 2 megawatts of thermal energy but no actual electricity, achieved criticality in October last year.

Building on the results of the prototype, the new facility will produce 60MW of heat that will be used to generate 10MW of electricity and hydrogen as part of a larger renewable and low-carbon energy research hub.


It's going a lot faster than Nuclear Fusion research.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-scientists-repeat-fusion-power-breakthrough-ft-2023-08-06/
They're at the stage they have proven you can actually gain energy.

Looks like Thorium reactors will be a handy stop gap until Nuclear Fusion reactors become affordable to build.