The U-233 created from such fast breedersis likely to power Beijing’s next-generation aircraft carriers and other long-range warships that will use thorium molten salt technology. Thorium MSRs (Molten Salt Reactors) have been in development since the 1960s by the United States, China, Russia, and France, yet nothing much ever came of them. Almost all of the current reactors … The waste produced from those reactors includes plutonium, which increases the lifetime of the waste and also makes it prone to weapons proliferation.. This technology was later adapted to civilian power use. Nearly a decade ago, the Chinese Academy of Science launched its own thorium molten-salt reactor program spearheaded by Jiang Mianheng, son of former President Jiang Zemin, which in a one-party regime like China’s is a sign of highest-level political commitment. More neutrons are released per neutronabsorbed in the fuel in a traditional (thermal) type of reactor Because of the inherent nature of the technology, they cannot melt down. The Chinese are running away with thorium energy, sharpening a global race for the prize of clean, cheap, and safe nuclear power. The thorium MSR efforts aims not only to develop the technology but to secure intellectual property rights to its implementation. Still, deploying thorium reactors will require additional research and development, which is why Yang has proposed $50 billion dollars for thorium research (along with fusion). Nuclear Reactor … China is not telling all they are doing on Nuclear Energy. Destruction of the nation’s dormant U-233 supply will benefit Communist China’s future military expansion as a global naval power. Proponents justify the destruction of the U-233 because it supposedly saves taxpayer money. The next year, under the Obama Administration, the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy to “collaborate” on thorium reactors. The younger Jiang was ousted under Xi Jinping’s political consolidation, but Xi has made sure the thorium reactor program has grown in size and scope. Kirk presented his latest update on work towards a Molten Salt Reactor. However, it has plenty of thorium, which is a byproduct of rare-earth mining on which China enjoys an uncontested monopoly. ( Log Out /  Lack of public documents and the Energy Department’s reticence on the matter prompted concerned advocates to file a Freedom of Information Act request to shed light on the secret deal with Beijing. As a result, the Energy Department is paying a company to destroy America’s U-233 inventory. However, Lyons was a key player in securing the partnership with Communist China. Its not $$$ oriented. As it ages, U-233 creates life-saving byproducts: Isotopes with the right set of properties for use in targeted cancer treatment. Election fraud all over the country! China is the other nation with a firm commitment to develop thorium power. There are a number of reasons thorium-fueled reactors, in particular the thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR), would work for China. They produce less radioactive waste than  today’s high-pressure uranium-fueled reactors. A Limerick. Being under low pressure, they are smaller in size and don’t require huge containment domes. Nextbigfuture spoke with Kirk frequently when Kirk blogged at Energy from Thorium. Corporate Responsibility; Corporate Governance; DBI & Thorium Power Canada. To ensure a strong nuclear deterrent against the Soviets during the Cold War, the US sponsored pressurized water reactors, fueled by uranium, for military submarine propulsion. While the memorandum wasn’t classified, the Obama Administration kept the document out of public view. Instead of allowing it to be deployed as a source of advanced, inexpensive, safe nuclear energy, Congress and presidents from both parties agreed to destroy it. The US never invested in developing the technology, in large part because the byproducts of its energy generation did not include plutonium, the warhead core of thermonuclear weapons. As for uranium based reactors, the basic classification of thorium nuclear reactors is based upon the average energy of the neutrons which cause the bulk of the fissions in the reactor core.From this point of view nuclear reactors are divided into two categories:. Huang Qiang stressed that the thorium molten salt nuclear reactor project is consistent with the environment of Gansu Province. The country plans to have the first such power plants hooked up … The case fatality rate of COVID-19 is reduced by a factor of 2.65 if HCQ + Zinc is administered as soon as possible. Molten-salt reactors are well-suited to generate power from another radioactive element, thorium, which is vastly more abundant than uranium and promises to greatly reduce the problem of nuclear waste. Conferences with experts from as many as 32 countries are held, including one by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2013, which focuses on thorium as an alternative nuclear t… The People’s Republic of China has initiated a research and development project in thorium molten-salt reactor technology. Learn how your comment data is processed. On two separate occasions – in 2011 and 2014 – then-assistant secretary of energy Peter Lyons told Congress that there was no advantage to pursuing thorium reactors in the United States. This version contains corrections to the original. Communist China, by contrast, has made huge advances – with American expertise. India has 18 PHWRs that are based on the CANDU design. America remains conspicuously absent from the race to develop thorium reactors – a revolutionary technology developed by American scientists in our national labs. It is fueled by the uranium-233 isotope that is taken from the element thorium. John 7:1-24, Jesus teaching at the feast of tabernacles.. J. Michael Waller is Senior Analyst for Strategy at the Center for Security Policy. Both are … Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. In a 2008 special report, the department’s inspector general criticized the destruction program, called down-blending, and recommended reconsideration. To an objective observer, this would seem to be helping China against interests of the United States. December 11, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Just as US politicians and businesses allowed the nation to become dependent on China for pharmaceuticals, electronics, and strategic minerals, they are helping Beijing to make America dependent on advanced nuclear technology. View all posts by lenbilen. Basic development work has been conducted in Germany, India, Canada, Japan, China, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Russia, Brazil, the UK & the USA. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. U-233 “splits” when struck by a neutron to produce energy and two or more neutrons. The People’s Republic of China has initiated a research and development project in thorium molten-salt reactor technology. 1.25 Million cases are proof enough! Short-sighted legacy programs that began under the Clinton administration, continued through George W. Bush and accelerated under Obama, persist under the Trump administration to give Beijing a decisive advantage. The thorium MSR … Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR) World’s Largest Energy Consumer Needs to Solve Its Air Pollution Problem. 19/8/2018. Thorium vs. Once finished, the TerraPower deal will not only foreclose on America’s promising thorium reactor technology. It would grant TerraPower a virtual monopoly on radioisotope cancer treatments for the foreseeable future. Starting in 2010, China is now working on two very different thorium based molten salt reactor programs. This means one neutron can continue the chain reaction while the other is absorbed in thorium to form new U-233. For China, clean energy development and implementation is a test for the state’s ability. Beijing seems to be borrowing a concept devised in India to create U-233 from thorium by consuming spent nuclear fuel in fast breeder reactors. Advanced nuclear technologies, including thorium reactors… Those aren’t the only problems. Second, thorium, … A former instructor with the Naval Postgraduate School, he is an instructor/lecturer at the John F Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg. But it has not stopped DOE’s contract to destroy the U-233. The Trump Administration prevented TerraPower from providing that advantage to the adversary. So it makes sense for the United States to keep its small but unique inventory of U-233 that survives from the Cold War-era research project. So thorium is not usable as a fuel directly, but is … China is building a massive nuclear energy program that will ultimately enable the Communist regime to power a nuclear navy to take on America’s fleet worldwide. Thorium has no isotopes that readily fission to produce energy. A pilot fast breeder reactor is under construction. Since the US had no domestic program, the memorandum prompted questions about how exactly the nation would benefit from such a collaboration. As with all American innovation centers, the Chinese regime has had a strong interest in Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Chinese Academy of Sciences partnership with the Obama Administration was unusual in another way: The entirety of the funding came from China. We don’t call the rest of reactors Uranium reactors. 10. They are referred to as fourth generation nuclear reactors, which it hopes to commercialize in 15 … Please stop calling it Thorium reactors. So the material has sat, as it does today, at an old Cold War-era storage site at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. All the while, the US continues to allow China to capture our technology and expertise by bankrolling the Department of Energy. Some people recognized the error from the start. Types of Thorium Reactors. 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