Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

spectrum.ieee.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 102 posts

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#21

Post by maerF0x0 »

tpmx wrote: post #17
duairc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CCP has proven to us that we can't trust their word. Over and over again. Are you able to substantiate that claim?

> Are you able to substantiate that claim? https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/18/china-covid-19-killed-h... It is widely known that when the new coronavirus emerged in December 2019, the Chinese government downplayed the pandemic threat for several critical weeks. Less commonly known is those same authorities deliberately sacrificed health workers to maintain their lies. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) calculated…

And before you downvote ^^ consider reading this page https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/foreign-policy/

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#22

Post by initplus »

duairc wrote: post #12
tpmx wrote: post #3

That would be awesome, but unfortunately the CCP have proven to us that we can't trust their word.

> CCP has proven to us that we can't trust their word. Over and over again. Are you able to substantiate that claim?

The whole country is structured so that verification by foreigners is next to impossible:

Foreign journalists cannot freely report from within the country. If the government does not like your reporting, you are forced to leave the country.

Information controls ensure that communication with China & the western world is controlled and subject to scrutiny. People in China cannot legally access most foreign news, or communicate with foreigners on social media. You cannot even access hackernews legally in China!

This creates an environment where it's extremely hard to actually vet any information about China, as there is such a strong communications barrier. Both for professional journalists and regular civilians. There is this immense culture of secrecy and information control that does not exist on the same scale anywhere else in the world.

Unsurprisingly this creates a situation where people distrust the words of the Chinese government. They have created this apparatus that prevents foreigners from verifying Chinese information.

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#23

Post by smhost »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #21
tpmx wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are you able to substantiate that claim? https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/18/china-covid-19-killed-h... It is widely known that when the new coronavirus emerged in December 2019, the Chinese government downplayed the pandemic threat for several critical weeks. Less commonly known is those same authorities deliberately sacrificed health workers to maintain their lies. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) calculated…

And before you downvote ^^ consider reading this page https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/foreign-policy/

> In review, Foreign Policy covers news related to foreign affairs with minimal bias. Headlines are generally free from loaded words, though at times moderate such as this: Bernie Sanders Still Doesn’t Pass the Commander-in-Chief Test (anti-progressive) and this Trump Doesn’t Want to Play Peacemaker (anti-Trump). Both articles use proper sourcing. In general, Foreign Policy leans slightly right in their news coverage but balanced in reporting and well-sourced.

This is hilarious. I wonder if there's a political group that benefits from attacking both these positions.

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#24

Post by apatheticonion »

I have been doing my best to find critical information on the viability of Thorium based nuclear reactors (because they sound too good to be true).

Everyone sings their praises, but what engineering challenges are there and are those engineering challenges large enough to discourage their development/adoption?

The biggest thing I have found is that the salt solution for Thorium reactors is quite corrosive and that is challenging to contain.

It generally sounds really promising - even the Wiki page for thorium MSR sings its praises.

Why wouldn't it work? Why isn't the world throwing shit-loads of money at this? Is China enlightened or is this some kind of meme-ware technology they fell for (or are trying to convince others to waste their money on)?

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#25

Post by wolverine876 »

smhost wrote: post #20
wolverine876 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this also isn't the type of thing that governments tend to lie about This is the sort of thing governments lie about, IME - big, sensational achievements that enhance their status.

maybe in movies. governments mostly tend to lie about things they did badly, not about long-term accomplishments that can be fairly easily measured against their previous record, currently level of expertise, etc.

> maybe in movies

No, I said "IME". Don't try to dismiss other people.

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#27

Post by maerF0x0 »

smhost wrote: post #23
maerF0x0 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And before you downvote ^^ consider reading this page https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/foreign-policy/

> In review, Foreign Policy covers news related to foreign affairs with minimal bias. Headlines are generally free from loaded words, though at times moderate such as this: Bernie Sanders Still Doesn’t Pass the Commander-in-Chief Test (anti-progressive) and this Trump Doesn’t Want to Play Peacemaker (anti-Trump). Both articles use proper sourcing. In general, Foreign Policy leans slightly right in their news coverage…

Are you implying a specific group?

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#28

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

Tade0 wrote: post #14
seiferteric wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare the EROEI on solar (~10) vs nuclear (~100), and LFTR (~1200 maybe...) in particular, there is no comparison. In the future we will need far more electrical energy, it's not enough to just replace what we currently have. Also if we want to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere, we will need a tremendous amount of power.

Problem is, we might not be able to build them fast enough. China is currently the leader in deployment of nuclear power, but even there wind power overtook it in terms of GWh delivered in 2013 and the difference was been widening ever since. Similarly within a decade solar went from delivering 1% of the energy nuclear did, to 70%. At this rate it will close the gap before 2025.

If there is a will, there is a way. The US invented the nuclear bomb in just a few years with the Manhattan project.

The biggest obstacle has been the anti-science FUD spread largely by environmental groups.

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#29

Post by NonContro »

apatheticonion wrote: post #24

I have been doing my best to find critical information on the viability of Thorium based nuclear reactors (because they sound too good to be true). Everyone sings their praises, but what engineering challenges are there and are those engineering challenges large enough to discourage their development/adoption? The biggest thing I have found is that the salt solution for Thorium reactors is quite corrosive and that is…

Because corrupt politicians close down existing nuclear power industries and force their countries to import natural gas.

They then get cushy roles at those foreign natural gas companies once their political career is over:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/13/russia.germany

And if something goes wrong with Nuclear, they get the blame, whereas climate change cooks the frog slowly and blame and impacts are distributed across the entire planet.

Re: China Says It's Closing in on Thorium Nuclear Reactor

#30

Post by philipkglass »

apatheticonion wrote: post #24

I have been doing my best to find critical information on the viability of Thorium based nuclear reactors (because they sound too good to be true). Everyone sings their praises, but what engineering challenges are there and are those engineering challenges large enough to discourage their development/adoption? The biggest thing I have found is that the salt solution for Thorium reactors is quite corrosive and that is…

Here's a well cited perspective, written by one of HN's own active commenters:

https://whatisnuclear.com/thorium-myths.html

Post reply on HN