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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Here the KUN-24AP container ship would be a massive departure with its molten salt reactor. Despite this seemingly odd choice, there are a number of reasons for this, including the inherent safety of an MSR, the ability to refuel continuously without shutting down the reactor, and a high burn-up rate, which means very little waste to be filtered out of the molten salt fuel. The roots for the ship’s reactor would appear to be found in China’s TMSR-LF program, with the TMSR-LF1 reactor having received its operating permit earlier in 2023. This is a fast neutron breeder, meaning that it can breed U-233 from thorium (Th-232) via neutron capture, allowing it to primarily run on much cheaper thorium rather than uranium fuel.

An additional benefit is the fuel and waste from such reactors is useless for nuclear weapons.

Another article with interviews: https://gcaptain.com/nuclear-powered-24000-teu-containership-china/

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Brinksmanship

Craftsmanship

and now, introducing

Containership

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

An additional benefit is the fuel and waste from such reactors is useless for nuclear weapons.

And here we have the reason the US has not been using throium reactors despite their safety, easy to procure fuel, and much safer waste materials.

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this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
118 points (100.0% liked)

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