Scientists in China are about to turn on for the first time an experimental reactor that is believed by some to be the Holy Grail of nuclear energy — safer, cheaper and with less potential for weaponization, reported Australia Broadcast Corporation yesterday. Construction on the thorium-based molten salt reactor was expected to be finished this month with the first tests to begin as early as September, according to a statement from the Gansu provincial government.
Thorium is a metallic element with radioactive properties, close to uranium on the periodic table, which was considered as an alternative fuel source when the U.S. was first developing nuclear energy technology in the 1940s.
