{"id":93047,"date":"2025-04-18T14:51:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/china-has-worlds-first-thorium-reactor-in-landmark-for-clean-nuclear-energy-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T14:51:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:51:32","slug":"china-has-worlds-first-thorium-reactor-in-landmark-for-clean-nuclear-energy-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/china-has-worlds-first-thorium-reactor-in-landmark-for-clean-nuclear-energy-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"China has world\u2019s first thorium reactor in landmark for clean nuclear energy | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

China has activated the world\u2019s only operational thorium molten salt reactor, marking a global breakthrough in clean nuclear energy using declassified United States research.<\/p>\n

Chinese scientists reloaded fuel into the working reactor in the Gobi Desert without halting operations, a feat revealed during a closed-door meeting at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on April 8, according to Guangming Daily.<\/p>\n

The 2-megawatt experimental unit, designed to run on thorium, uses molten salt as a coolant and fuel carrier. Project chief scientist Xu Hongjie confirmed that the reactor had reached critical milestones, including full-power operation in June 2024 and successful in-operation fuel reloading four months later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now lead the global frontier,\u201d Xu said at the meeting. \u201cRabbits sometimes make mistakes or grow lazy. That\u2019s when the tortoise seizes its chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thorium is seen by experts as a safer, more abundant alternative to uranium. It produces less long-lived radioactive waste and carries a lower risk of weaponisation.<\/p>\n

Combined with molten salt reactor design\u2014first tested by US scientists in the 1960s\u2014this technology operates at atmospheric pressure and is engineered to self-limit overheating.<\/p>\n

The Chinese team relied heavily on declassified American research to develop their system. \u201cThe US left its research publicly available, waiting for the right successor,\u201d Xu said. \u201cWe were that successor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers at the CAS Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics built upon historical data, recreated experiments, and advanced them. Construction began in 2018, and the team has grown to over 400 members, many of whom worked through holidays to keep the project on schedule.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough aligns with China’s ambition to diversify its energy portfolio. A larger 10-megawatt thorium reactor is under construction and expected to reach criticality by 2030. China has also announced plans for thorium-powered cargo ships, aiming to reduce emissions in global maritime transport.<\/p>\n

Xu noted the symbolic timing of the development, highlighting that June 17 marks the anniversary of China\u2019s first hydrogen bomb test. \u201cWe chose the hardest path, but the right one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China has activated the world\u2019s only operational thorium molten salt reactor, marking a global breakthrough in clean nuclear energy using declassified United States research. Chinese scientists reloaded fuel into the working reactor in the Gobi Desert without halting operations, a feat revealed during a closed-door meeting at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on April […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/news-stories-640-x-480-px-2025-04-18t135355-961744966438-0\/news-stories-640-x-480-px-2025-04-18t135355-961744966438-0.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}