New Breakthrough in China's Nuclear Energy Technology! Potential to Break Nuclear Power's Dependence on Uranium

On November 1st, the Chinese Academy of Sciences confirmed that the 2-megawatt liquid-fueled Thorium-based Molten Salt experimental Reactor (TMSR), led by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has successfully completed the first conversion of thorium-uranium nuclear fuel.

This achievement not only fills an international gap – marking the first time experimental data has been obtained after thorium elements entered and operated within a molten salt reactor – but also makes this reactor the world's only currently operational molten salt reactor that has achieved thorium fuel loading. It provides crucial preliminary verification for the technical feasibility of utilizing thorium resources within molten salt reactor nuclear energy systems.

Construction of this experimental reactor officially began in January 2020. It reached full-power operational standards for the first time in June 2024, and in October of the same year, it set a global record by being the first molten salt reactor to have thorium added. This series of advancements has propelled China to take the international lead in establishing a distinctive and advantageous molten salt reactor and thorium-uranium fuel cycle research platform. To date, the reactor's overall localization rate exceeds 90%, with 100% localization achieved for key core equipment, ensuring the supply chain is fully independent and controllable.

As a core representative of China's fourth-generation nuclear fission reactor technology, the Thorium-based Molten Salt Reactor exhibits particularly outstanding safety characteristics. Unlike most nuclear reactors that require operation under high pressure, it operates entirely at atmospheric pressure, fundamentally eliminating the risk of high-pressure explosions.

Even more noteworthy is that while nuclear fission technology has achieved mature commercial application, the issue of nuclear fuel supply shortage is becoming increasingly urgent. In nature, only Uranium-235 can be directly used as nuclear fuel, but it constitutes only about 0.7% of natural uranium. As of January 1, 2021, the total global identified recoverable uranium resources were approximately 7.91 million tonnes. If relying solely on Uranium-235 for energy, this could only support global needs for less than 100 years. The challenge facing China is even more severe: domestic uranium resources are limited, with an external import dependency exceeding 70%.