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| The earth is loaded with thorium, but so is the moon. |
The South China Morning Post reports here:
A team of scientists in Shanghai had originally been given 25 years to try to develop the world's first nuclear plant using the radioactive element thorium as fuel rather than uranium, but they have now been told they have 10, the researchers said. ...
Professor Li, director of the project's molten salt chemistry and engineering technology division, said the smog crisis had provided huge impetus for their research. ...
Western countries such as the United States have experimented with thorium reactors but gave up on the technology because of the engineering difficulties.
Analysts have also suggested the US lost interest in thorium as a fuel for reactors because uranium was a more suitable material to produce nuclear weapons.
Interest, however, has been revived in recent years and research projects have been established in several countries, including the United States, France and Japan.
"This is definitely a race," said Li. China "faces fierce competition from overseas and to get there first will not be an easy task", he said.
h/t Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
