Jack H. Schick

China's Nuclear Plan



Posted: Friday, August 12, 2011

by Jack H. Schick

In the 1960’s the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee successfully tested the first large Molten Salt (nuclear) Reactor (MSR).  Instead of running on solid uranium, the MSR relies on liquid fuel laced with thorium.  Thorium is three times as abundant as uranium.  Though MSR’s are safer than reactors we have today, the technology has languished ever since, primarily due to the price tag.  The cost would far exceed the $10 billion it costs to construct a conventional uranium plant.  China, however, is planning to build one.

The MSR process uses heated salts that act as both coolant and a medium for fission reactions.  It would, theoretically, prevent fuel from overheating and breaching the reactor containment vessel.  If there is an increase in core temperature or a power failure, the hot liquid salt melts a plug at the bottom of the reactor and drains into a passively cooled containment vessel.  The risk of radiation being released into the environment is dramatically reduced.  Also, because the thorium fuel is more efficient, it could reduce radioactive waste by a factor of 100, compared to conventional reactors.

Since the triple meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in March, a shadow has descended over nuclear power in the western world.  In Europe at least 25 reactors have been closed down or construction cancelled since the disaster.  Public support for nuclear power in the United States is collapsing again, at a time when oil prices have made it attractive. In China, however, energy demand is skyrocketing and they have an undiminished enthusiasm for the relatively inexpensive power nuclear reactors provide.

In January, China announced a 20-year plan to pursue the construction of MSRs.  China already has twenty-five new conventional uranium reactors under construction and expects to increase their shift in that direction.  Since they are the only nation in the world with enough capital to make the effort, they must be relied on to push the MSR technology to the next level.

The United States, in actuality, has provided China with the initial technology for the MSR process, and the money to invest in its further development. But, it could work to the advantage of the U.S.  If China is able to meet its energy needs by building nuclear plants, it will decrease its need for oil.  There will be more on the open marked from suppliers in the Middle East and other producing nations for the United States to purchase.
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