Nuclear China is ahead of France and is building thorium reactors

While in France, for ideological reasons, we stopped the Phénix and Super Phénix fast breeder reactors, stopped the Astrid project, and China is moving forward with low-carbon energy and in unlimited or almost unlimited quantities and will power a molten-salt thorium nuclear reactor.

“The Chinese authorities have just authorized the commissioning of a prototype molten thorium experimental nuclear reactor. This type of reactor belongs to the category of so-called breeder reactors and is much safer, capable of producing more fuel than it consumes and which releases less waste than conventional fission reactors. They represent the future. Medium and long term nuclear power, at least as far as fission is concerned.France has been at the forefront of another technology that allows fast breeder reactors, with Phénix, SuperPhénix and the Astrid research programme.Reactors and programs that were halted for political reasons respectively by Lionel Jospin at the end of the last century And Emmanuel Macron in 2019 … “

Energy transmission should be discussed.

We must not force it on us by our friendly German friends who wish us nothing but the best.

We are not doomed to cultivate windmills which will not be of as much use as is required.

We have alternatives.

It is clear that scientific progress around nuclear energy is unlimited, and we are under no obligation to stay with technologies that involve risks. We can do much better, more efficient and safer.

“The molten-salt thorium nuclear reactor (which plays the role of heat transfer material and containment barrier) makes engineers imagine just like a fast neutron reactor. These two technologies, different from those used today in almost all existing reactors, can allow complete control of the fuel cycle thanks to multiplying on In particular.It makes it possible to synthesize more fuel in the reactor than that used and to produce very little radioactive waste.But the thorium reactor, developed by China today in particular, is not a miracle solution.To be developed on an industrial and non-experimental scale, it is still It requires many years of research and investment.

Many advantages, but still serious technical hurdles.

The molten thorium salt reactor theoretically offers the best of both worlds. that of Energy and abundance of nuclear electricity without having a military dimension, which provides greater safety, without consuming water to cool it and without the need to manage large quantities of radioactive waste resulting from the fission of uranium or plutonium atoms. Thorium is abundant. In order to be used in a reactor, it does not require a long enrichment process. The study of this technology began at the end of the forties, and it was abandoned due to lack of funding, although many experiments were conducted in the sixties and seventies and even in recent years, in the United States, Russia, Asia and Europe. In the Netherlands, an assessment project was launched in 2017 (see image above). »

We are a country of lions led by donkeys.

Charles Snat

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