China spending US$3.3 billion on molten salt nuclear reactors for faster aircraft carriers and in flying drones

Two molten salt nuclear reactors will be built in the Gobi Desert in northern China.

* Molten salt reactors can produce one thousandth of the radioactive waste of existing nuclear reactors because of deep burn. More complete conversion of the nuclear fuel.
* Molten salt reactors can have designs that are proof against nuclear meltdowns
* The chinese reactors could use thorium. China has some of the world’s largest reserves of the thorium metal.

The Chinese project has been funded by the central government and the two reactors are to be built at Wuwei in Gansu province, according to a statement on the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The lead scientist on the project is Jiang Mianheng – the son of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin – and it is hoped the reactors will be up and running by 2020.

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Brian Wang – NextBig Future – December 6, 2017.