China achieves thorium fuel conversion for advanced molten-salt reactor

China has achieved a significant breakthrough in advanced nuclear energy by successfully converting thorium into uranium fuel within a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR), marking the first such accomplishment globally. This milestone, confirmed by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provides concrete experimental proof of the technical feasibility of using thorium in molten-salt reactor systems. The achievement is pivotal for China, enabling it to leverage its vast domestic thorium reserves and advancing the global development of next-generation nuclear energy technologies. The TMSR represents a fourth-generation nuclear reactor design that uses high-temperature molten salt as a coolant instead of water, offering inherent safety advantages, operation at atmospheric pressure, and high-temperature output. These features make molten-salt reactors particularly suitable for thorium fuel utilization. SINAP’s experimental TMSR is currently the only operational molten-salt reactor actively testing thorium fuel worldwide. Since the program’s inception in 2011, China has developed a complete