China unlocks 60-year-old American energy secret

Leave a CommentChina unlocks 60-year-old American energy secretPower, Technology

In a stunning turn of events, China has unlocked a 60-year-old American secret, harnessing thorium-based molten salt reactors to potentially power its future for millennia. This breakthrough, detailed in a widely shared post by analyst Arnaud Bertrand on X, stems from declassified research conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s, which China revived after discovering the blueprints in U.S. archives.

The science behind it is both elegant and revolutionary. Thorium, a silvery metal three times more abundant than uranium, transforms into a potent energy source when bombarded with neutrons, breeding uranium-233—a fissionable isotope that sustains a chain reaction. Unlike traditional uranium reactors, these molten salt reactors use a liquid salt mixture as both fuel and coolant, operating at high temperatures with a built-in safety mechanism: if systems fail, the molten salt solidifies, preventing meltdowns. This design also slashes radioactive waste by 50 times, as thorium’s byproducts decay far faster than uranium’s, easing the burden of long-term storage.

Central to this story is Kirk Sorensen, a former NASA engineer whose passion project ignited global interest. Through his website energyfromthorium.com, Sorensen digitized and published Oak Ridge’s extensive research, compiling technical papers and blueprints from the 1960s. Though NASA itself didn’t fund or develop this work, Sorensen’s background in alternative energy drove him to preserve this forgotten knowledge. His efforts provided China with a roadmap, leading to the successful operation of a 2-megawatt prototype in Gansu’s desert, where engineers achieved thorium-to-uranium conversion after 14 years of dedicated work starting in 2011.

This aligns with a global push for cleaner energy as nations race toward carbon-neutral goals, with China leveraging thorium to fuel its AI and industrial boom. Western efforts, like those of U.S. startup Kairos Power, trail by years, hampered by complex supply chains and regulatory delays. A historical hurdle—corrosion in molten salt systems—has been overcome with advanced alloys like China’s GH3535, an evolution of Oak Ridge’s Hastelloy-N, tailored for durability. The water-free design suits arid regions, and with Earth’s vast thorium reserves, the technology could run for thousands of years.

Yet, China’s lead exposes a strategic energy gap, prompting the U.S. to rethink its past pivot to uranium. Experts estimate a decade before commercial readiness, with China eyeing a 100-megawatt demo by 2035, poised to reshape the global energy landscape.

They fixed the corrosion issue