The Next Generation of Nuclear Power Is Here

After a decade of research and development, China is ready to test its first-ever thorium-powered molten salt reactor. If it runs safely and shows potential to be cost-effective, China may be powering over a hundred thousand homes by 2030. » Recap on Fusion Energy » Subscribe to Seeker! » Watch more Elements! » Visit our shop at This reactor, a unit in Wuwei capable of producing just 2 Megawatts of thermal energy, is actually a test bed for two experimental technologies. Those would be the Thorium fuel source and the molten salt coolant. Unlike Uranium 235, Thorium is not fissile, meaning it can’t sustain nuclear fission. Thorium 232, however, is fertile, meaning if it captures a neutron, it will eventually decay into Uranium 233, which can then be used to generate power. Then there’s the use of molten salt for coolant. Molten salt is just what it sounds like; s