The Bayan Obo mining complex in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of northern China, could contain enough thorium to supply China’s household energy demands ‘almost forever’, a national survey reportedly found<\/p>\n
China has discovered an ‘endless’ energy source that could supply enough fuel to power the country for 60,000 years, geologists in Beijing<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0have claimed.<\/p>\n The Bayan Obo mining complex in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of northern China, could contain enough thorium\u00a0to supply China’s household energy demands ‘almost forever’, a national survey reportedly found.<\/p>\n This slightly radioactive element can be used to create a type of nuclear power station called a molten-salt reactor which could provide enormous quantities of energy.<\/p>\n Scientists estimate the mining complex\u00a0could yield 1 million tonnes of thorium if fully exploited, according to The South China Post<\/strong><\/a>, which obtained a declassified report of the survey.<\/p>\n The study has claimed that\u00a0thorium resources in the country’s mining waste ‘remain totally untouched’ and if properly extracted could be\u00a0large enough to end the\u00a0worldwide dependence on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n Researchers further allege that\u00a0five years’ worth of mining waste from an iron ore site in Inner Mongolia contains enough thorium to meet American energy demands for\u00a0over 1,000 years.<\/p>\n The report comes as China, Russia and the US race to expand their nuclear technologies and make\u00a0nuclear energy<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0a key power source. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is set today to sign a deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that would allow America to mine Ukraine’s rare earth reserves.<\/p>\n The study identified 233 thorium-rich zones across the country and, if accurate, suggests that thorium reserves in China significantly exceed previous estimates.<\/p>\n Estimated to be 500 times more abundant than the uranium-232 used in conventional nuclear reactors, thorium has been hailed as a potential solution to the demand for nuclear power.<\/p>\n Nuclear reactors create energy by forcing radioactive elements to undergo a process called fission.<\/p>\n During this process, the element breaks down into smaller, more stable elements and releases heat which can be used to drive steam turbines.<\/p>\n Thorium on its own is not fissile, meaning it cannot be used for fission, but it can provide the basis for a fission reaction.<\/p>\n This is because thorium is ‘fertile’, meaning it can transmute into uranium-233 (U-233) when bombarded with neutrons.<\/p>\n In a molten-salt reactor, thorium is mixed with a chemical called\u00a0lithium fluoride and heated to about\u00a01400\u00b0C (2550\u00b0F).<\/p>\n This mixture is then bombarded with neutrons until some of the thorium starts to transform into uranium-232 which then decays in a fission reaction.<\/p>\n As it decays, this uranium then produces more neutrons which convert additional thorium into fuel.<\/p>\n In theory, this reactor design could turn an extremely abundant element into a nearly limitless source of power.<\/p>\n Molten-salt reactors also produce significantly less nuclear waste and remove the risk of nuclear meltdown by keeping the levels of fissile material relatively low.<\/p>\n China, which has started to build the world’s first thorium molten salt\u00a0nuclear power<\/strong><\/a> station, was previously believed to have enough thorium\u00a0reserves to meet its energy needs for 20,000 years.<\/p>\n ‘For over a century, nations have been engaging in wars over fossil fuels<\/strong><\/a>. It turns out the endless energy source lies right under our feet,’ a Beijing-based researcher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the South China Post.<\/p>\n The expert, explaining the significance of the discovery, claimed ‘every nation has thorium’ and argued that using it could revolutionise the energy industry.<\/p>\n ‘Imagine cargo ships powered by container-sized reactors crossing oceans for years without refuelling,’ the geologist said.<\/p>\n China last year approved construction of the world’s first-ever\u00a0thorium molten-salt reactors (TMSR) plant in the Gobi Desert.<\/p>\n The reactor is expected to generate 10 megawatts of electricity, according to a\u00a0report by Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute.<\/p>\n Beijing alleges the plant will be operational by 2029 and help China achieve ‘energy independence’.<\/p>\n Researchers worldwide have been teasing the use of thorium –\u00a0a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal – as a primary energy source for many years.<\/p>\n Thorium is more readily found in nature than uranium, and\u00a0can also generate 200 times more energy than uranium, according to\u00a0the World Nuclear Association<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n But the World Nuclear Association warns extracting the element in a way that is cost-effective remains challenging.<\/p>\n Researchers say the use of thorium in molten salt reactors would produce less toxic waste in the long run, and could be more easily reprocessed.<\/p>\n Thorium exploration, which requires a significant research and development investment, is primarily occurring in China.<\/p>\n The US has also evaluated a range of\u00a0thorium-based fuel cycles.<\/p>\n