This achievement makes the 2 MW liquid-fueled thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR) the only operating example of the technology in the world that has successfully loaded and utilized thorium fuel.
According to the academy, the experiment has provided initial evidence of the technical feasibility of using thorium resources in a molten salt reactor system and represents a major leap forward for the technology.
According to a report in Science & Technology Daily, this is the first time in the world that scientists have been able to obtain experimental data on thorium operations from inside a molten salt reactor.
The article, published on Saturday, was the first official confirmation of China’s success in developing TMSR technology, an innovation that is set to reshape the future of clean sustainable nuclear energy.
Li Qiangyuan, Communist Party secretary and deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, told the newspaper that “since achieving first criticality on October 11, 2023, the thorium molten salt reactor has been continuously generating heat through nuclear fission”.