PressTV... China is reportedly investing on a new nuclear power plant using the radioactive element thorium instead of uranium in an attempt to reduce fossil fuel consumption and cut air pollution.
A report said on Wednesday that Beijing has set a 15-year deadline to build the world's first thorium-fuelled facility.
It added that a team of researchers in the city of Shanghai has been tasked to develop the new plant.
"In the past, the government was interested in nuclear power because of the energy shortage. Now, they are more interested because of smog," Professor Li Zhong, a scientist working on the project, told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
Li went on to say that nuclear power was the "only solution" to replace fossil fuels such as coal and that thorium "carries much hope."
"The problem of coal has become clear," he said, adding "if the average energy consumption per person doubles, this country will be choked to death by polluted air."
The newspaper noted that the Chinese Academy of Sciences set up an advanced research center in January to develop an industrial reactor using thorium molten salt technology.
China, which has 20 uranium-fuelled nuclear plants in operation, is constructing 28 same facilities, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA).
"China has an ambitious nuclear-generation program. It plans to have almost 60 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2020 and up to 150 gigawatts by 2030, so the Chinese have plans to get a significant amount of nuclear into the energy mix," said Jonathan Cobb of the WNA.
DB/MHB/SS
Poster Comment:
Would be a good idea for other countries to embarked on this research, share info.