Why China Is Building a Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor

[publiusr]

Some of the old missile silos might be good for a server farm/small reactor combo. I would Imagine ICBM silos are up there with civil reactors in terms of construction if not better. Flooding perhaps more of a problem?

For hydrogen production
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-11-nuclear-fuel-energy-revolution.html
Nuclear waste remains a major environmental hazard due to its long-lasting radioactivity, which can persist for thousands of years. However, new research by University of Sharjah scientists, published in the journal Nuclear Engineering and Design, suggests that nuclear waste could offer a sustainable pathway for long-term hydrogen production.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0029549325006880
micro-reactors
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-physics-based-algorithm-enables-nuclear.html

 

[Scott Kenny]

You can do that with any spent nuclear fuel. Reprocessing should be the norm, not the exception.

Proliferation risk. And a terrorist risk at the time you transport it.

In all honesty, the place to reprocess is at the powerplant making the stuff.

Molten salt reactors can have serious accidents too. A big disadvantage is that you end up with way more solid waste that's highly radioactive than with water moderation.

Which you then re-irradiate to burn down to short-lived isotopes.

 

[Lepespi]

guys not an engineer of anything related, but just by reading online material the brest-od-300 seems more ready and their capacities seem pretty much equivalent with a slightly edge for the brest on getting rid of waste and a slightly edge for thorium on max temperature (and an ever so slightly edge in safety)

 

[Nicknick]

You can do that with any spent nuclear fuel. Reprocessing should be the norm, not the exception.


Well, at least 1000 years' worth that's recoverable.

Molten salt reactors can have serious accidents too. A big disadvantage is that you end up with way more solid waste that's highly radioactive than with water moderation.

No you can't, reprocessing can only reuse the U235 and some of the Plutonium, all the other dangerous longlived minor actinites remain in the waste.


Molten salt (fast)) reactors can reduce nuclear waste from other reactors. Even if they would entirely operated by fresh fuel, they would in theory not produce any longlifed nuclear waste since they will sooner or later split any heavy elements. Even when they will be decomissioned, there will be hardy any nuclear waste, since the filling can be reused for the next newly built molten salt reactor. Only the reactor housing will becone radioactive, just like in any other reactor.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

No you can't, reprocessing can only reuse the U235 and some of the Plutonium, all the other dangerous longlived minor actinites remain in the waste.


Molten salt (fast)) reactors can reduce nuclear waste from other reactors. Even if they would entirely operated by fresh fuel, they would in theory not produce any longlifed nuclear waste since they will sooner or later split any heavy elements. Even when they will be decomissioned, there will be hardy any nuclear waste, since the filling can be reused for the next newly built molten salt reactor. Only the reactor housing will becone radioactive, just like in any other reactor.

Quite a few other elements and isotopes of uranium are recoverable:

https://world-nuclear.org/informati...uel-recycling/processing-of-used-nuclear-fuel
https://e360.yale.edu/features/nuclear-waste-recycling
https://energy.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/6-Nuclear-Spent-Fuel-Recovery-and-Recycling.pdf
https://www.anl.gov/sites/www/files/2023-09/Recycling Used Nuclear Fuel Brochure.pdf

 

[Nicknick]

As there is writen, only with fast reactors like e.g. molten salt reactors. With standart light water reactors, only a fraction of the used fuel can be reused and there is no reprocessing of reprocessed fuel