CHINA FIRES UP WORLD'S FIRST THORIUM-POWERED NUCLEAR REACTOR

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

China's Gobi Desert reactor, a two-megawatt research unit engineered to use molten salt as a fuel carrier and coolant, achieved 'full-power operation' last June and its team recently succeeded in reloading the reactor while it was powered up. The Thorium-powered reactor design offers a more accessible but less weaponizable alternative to uranium. Using molten salt carries far less risk in the event of a meltdown compared to water-based systems as salts can carry greater loads of thermal energy at much lower pressure. The fuel is already molten - in the event of a breach of a vessel or pipe, it will just leak out and freeze rather than explode.