Since China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) unveiled its KUN-24AP containership at the Marintec China Expo in Shanghai in early December of 2023, the internet has been abuzz about it. Not jus…

Here the KUN-24AP container ship would be a massive departure with its molten salt reactor. Despite this seemingly odd choice, there are a number of reasons for this, including the inherent safety of an MSR, the ability to refuel continuously without shutting down the reactor, and a high burn-up rate, which means very little waste to be filtered out of the molten salt fuel. The roots for the ship’s reactor would appear to be found in China’s TMSR-LF program, with the TMSR-LF1 reactor having received its operating permit earlier in 2023. This is a fast neutron breeder, meaning that it can breed U-233 from thorium (Th-232) via neutron capture, allowing it to primarily run on much cheaper thorium rather than uranium fuel.

An additional benefit is the fuel and waste from such reactors is useless for nuclear weapons.

Another article with interviews: https://gcaptain.com/nuclear-powered-24000-teu-containership-china/

  • Evilphd666 [he/him, comrade/them]English
    7•6 months ago

    I’d rather they use these massive ships for making hydrogen oxygen splitting than promoting corrosive radioactive salt nukes. And no I wont be responding to the nuclear zealots and lobyists here. wall-talk I hope the best for China, and I hate having to pay a “China tax” save being accused of “racism” or “nationalist chauvinism”, but nukes IMO are not the way forward. Too much risk.

    • oregoncom [he/him]English
      29•6 months ago

      Where is the energy to generate hydrogen going to come from? If it were pure renewables you’d have to cover all of Xinjiang in solar panels. Also what specific issues do you have against Thorium reactors? I was led to believe that they were a much better alternative in terms of safety and waste. /gen.

    • tactical_trans_karen [she/her, comrade/them]English
      19•6 months ago

      Yeah, it’s not great, and it doesn’t address hyper consumption. But if the treats must flow, molten salt reactors are a much better on multiple fronts - less fuel consumption when the shipping industry is a major contributor to CO2, and it’s a much safer reactor that produces way less waste compared to other types. Still dangerous, but so is a boat full of petrol based fuel if there’s an accident.