An endless energy source found in China has the potential to power millions of homes for 60,000 years.
The aerospace and electric vehicle industries stand to gain the most from China's potential to completely transform the clean energy sector once more. The Asian nation has found a substance that could provide 60,000 years of electricity to millions of homes.
There is enough thorium in the Bayan Obo region of Inner Mongolia Province, China, to supply the energy sector for many years. Molten salt reactors, one of the nation's most ambitious projects, will require this material to be developed.
The Earth's crust contains trace amounts of thorium, but it satisfies all the requirements. Compared to the uranium used in nuclear fusion reactors, this component is more stable and effective.
Future nuclear reactors may use thorium, a silvery-white actinide metal, as an alternative fuel. This substance is not only more stable and effective than uranium, but it is also more readily available and less costly.
The characteristics of this material will make nuclear energy more affordable than before. Thorium generates less long-lived radioactive waste than uranium and can be used in reactors without enrichment.
Waste from uranium reactors takes 300,000 years to decompose, whereas waste from thorium reactors decomposes entirely in 300 years. This component's benefits go even farther: it makes using this material to design nuclear weapons very challenging.
China has 233 thorium mining regions.
More hopeful is the study, which was carried out by the National Laboratory for Uranium Resource Exploration, Mining, and Nuclear Remote Sensing. Local media reports claim that China has found 233 thorium-rich regions throughout the nation that are ready for exploitation.
The thorium reserves in the western Inner Mongolian mining region of Bayan Obo alone could supply China's energy needs for about 60,000 years. The key to lowering its long-standing reliance on coal lies in the Asian nation.
One of the world's biggest deposits of rare earth metals is the Bayan Obo mine. More than a million tons of thorium could be extracted from the region, according to the National Exploration and Mining Laboratory.
China has already started building its first molten salt reactor based on thorium in the Gobi Desert, demonstrating its readiness to compete in the energy market. By 2029, the plant might be up and running if all goes according to plan.