#长文创作激励计划#
Sources: All information stated in this article is based on reliable information, and is summarized at the end of this article
The nuclear power plant has a thermal power of 60 megawatts, and will start construction in 2025, and is the world's only experimental experimental thorium-based molten salt experimental reactor.
Experts even estimate that once put into use, it will be used by Chinese for 20,000 years to achieve truly unlimited energy, is this true? What impact will China's breakthrough have on the energy sector?
Infinite energy, or has come
For unlimited energy, it seems to have always appeared in science fiction movies, take Chinese electricity as an example, in 2020, China consumed 7,225.5 billion kilowatt hours a year, and in 2021, this figure soared directly to 8,312.8 billion kilowatt hours.
This number is still growing over time, but the problem is that the world's energy is completely limited, whether it is oil or other energy sources, there will be a time when they will be exhausted.
Moreover, this is not only a problem faced by China itself, but also by the rest of the world, and the world has been trying to find ways to break through the limitations, but with little success.
Recently, however, there has been a relatively heavy news in the Chinese scientific community, that China will build the world's first thorium-based molten salt reactor power station, which is like a stormy wave, causing ripples in the scientific community.
The project was led by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and was located on a Gobi desert near Wuwei, Gansu Province.
According to the introduction, although thorium was discovered by scientists very early, the United States also wanted to use thorium to make a breakthrough in energy, but in the end it failed, but this difficulty was broken by China, which has far-reaching implications.
According to official reports, the construction of the thorium-based molten salt reactor will begin in 2025 and will be put into operation in 2029, and the power of the thorium-based molten salt reactor will be about 60MW, which will promote the work of a 10WM generator set.
The remaining heat energy can be used to produce hydrogen, which can be used in clean energy, and it can be said that thorium-based molten salt will hardly waste much heat energy.
After 2030, China will start to build more than 100MW of commercial thorium-based molten salt.
From the perspective of China's current storage of thorium, experts estimate that the thorium-based molten salt reactor project can provide China with a steady stream of energy for 20,000 years, but what is the charm of thorium-based molten salt to truly achieve unlimited energy, which makes China love it and allows China to break through all difficulties?
Thorium molten salt pile, remarkable results
In fact, last year, China has built a relatively small thorium-based molten salt reactor, the purpose is to test the data of the thorium-based molten salt reactor, from the official release of the official thorium-based molten salt reactor will be built next year, the results of the small test should be very ideal.
Thorium-based molten salt reactor is a kind of nuclear reactor, which mainly uses heavy nuclear fission to release the energy of the atomic nucleus in the thorium, and then forms power by heating the medium, which is what we call energy.
In general reactors, the most used element is uranium, but because uranium-235 and uranium-238 will appear in the extraction of uranium, and the reactor relies on collision to produce fission, and uranium is not easy to control in the process of fission.
In particular, uranium-235, due to the relatively large neutron energy released, it is difficult to collide with other nuclei in the actual reaction, which also leads to a significant reduction in fission efficiency.
To overcome this problem, a moderator was developed to control the neutron velocity of uranium-235, as in the case of a light water reactor that uses water to form steam during the heating of the reactor, which then pushes the steam turbine to work.
However, due to the production of radioactive materials in this process, it is relatively unsafe, and later there is a heavy water reactor, although it can avoid the problem of radioactivity, but the heat released by it will produce helium, which is flammable and extremely harmful.
The research and development of thorium-based molten salt reactors just makes up for the shortcomings and drawbacks of previous reactors, thorium-based molten salt uses liquid salt and carbon dioxide to transfer heat, and does not need cooling links in the whole fission process.
This design effectively improves energy efficiency and ensures safety, such as in the event of an abnormality in the thorium-based molten salt, the liquid fuel will flow to a safe container as soon as possible to avoid leakage.
And thorium is better than uranium in terms of reserves and energy potential, for example, a thorium-based molten salt reactor can output almost 200 uranium reactors.
Of course, the complete work of the thorium-based molten salt reactor seems simple, but in fact, the real operation is not so easy, such as the thorium-based molten salt corrosiveness problem is difficult to break through, which is one of the main reasons why the aforementioned United States finally failed.
However, in the process, Chinese scientists did not give up, and now the breakthrough has put China at the forefront of the world once again, which is unmatched by other countries.
Clever design, good and high
In the process of breaking through the research of thorium-based molten salt reactors, Chinese scientists have taken great pains to solve a series of problems in nuclear fission, and the entire molten salt reactor is operated in a single pipeline.
This design solves many difficulties such as the difficulty of heat exchange, the inability to replace nuclear fuel, and the elimination of leakage, and of course, it allows scientists to have such a bold move, thanks to the safety of the thorium-based molten salt reactor itself.
The thorium-based molten salt reactor does not need to be concentrated, which shortens the cycle of radioactive elements by 200 years without pressurization, effectively avoiding the risk of core meltdown, and most importantly, the molten salt reactor does not require too much water as a moderator.
Everyone knows how Japan's nuclear wastewater came about, because they have too much untreatable nuclear wastewater, which is formed during the cooling process.
In addition to these advantages, the diversification of molten salt reactors is also one of the most significant characteristics, it can be applied in many other fields, such as industrial manufacturing, etc., plus China has 30% of the world's thorium, this experiment can be said to be a great cause for the benefit of the country and the people.
From the beginning of the thorium-based molten salt reactor project by Chinese scientists, to the certification of the National Nuclear Safety Administration of China, to the imminent construction, every step of the process is both hard and proud, and this is the China that has attracted the attention of the world.
On the road of scientific research in the future, China will definitely make more achievements and soar with wings.
Resources:
Independent fourth-generation advanced nuclear energy research and development welcomes an important node: Gansu thorium-based molten salt experimental reactor has obtained operation license-The Paper
The thorium-based molten salt experimental reactor was completed in Wuwei, Gansu Province, and Shanghai Construction Engineering will continue to cooperate with the Shanghai Institute of Applied Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Municipal People's Government
China is about to start building the world's first thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plant, Sputnik news agency of Russia