Endless thorium supply in China can help make unlimited nuclear power: Survey

A recently declassified report has revealed that China may have far more thorium than previously estimated. The radioactive metal, already known to exist in vast quantities within China’s borders, could be the key to a nearly unlimited energy supply.

The findings suggest that thorium reserves in the country exceed previous estimates by orders of magnitude.

The study, which concluded in 2020, highlights how thorium could revolutionize global energy production and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. A Beijing-based geologist, who wished to remain anonymous, explained the significance of the discovery, as reported by South China Morning Post (SCMP).

“For over a century, nations have been engaging in wars over fossil fuels. It turns out the endless energy source lies right under our feet,” the geologist said. “Every nation has thorium. Imagine cargo ships powered by container-sized reactors crossing oceans for years without refueling.”

Thorium’s potential to reshape energy policy

Thorium is a silver-colored metal that can generate 200 times more energy than uranium. Unlike uranium-based reactors, thorium molten-salt reactors (TMSRs) are compact, do not require water cooling, cannot experience a meltdown, and produce very little long-lived radioactive waste.

Last year, China approved the construction of the world’s first TMSR power plant in the Gobi Desert. This pilot project is expected to generate 10 megawatts of electricity and be operational by 2029.

The report points to the enormous potential of thorium in China’s mining waste. Just five years’ worth of mining waste from an iron ore site in Inner Mongolia contains enough thorium to supply U.S. household energy demands for over 1,000 years. The Bayan Obo mining complex alone could yield around 1 million tonnes of thorium—potentially enough to power China for 60,000 years.

“These thorium resources in tailings remain totally untouched,” wrote the study’s lead researcher, senior engineer Fan Honghai from the National Key Laboratory of Uranium Resource Exploration-Mining and Nuclear Remote Sensing in Beijing, reported SCMP.

Challenges and future possibilities

The national thorium survey identified 233 thorium-rich zones across China, clustered in five key belts from inland Xinjiang to coastal Guangdong. These deposits are primarily magmatic and hydrothermal, often found alongside rare earth elements. In regions such as Fujian and Hainan, monazite-rich coastal sands contain easily extractable thorium.

Despite the excitement surrounding the discovery, significant challenges remain. Extracting thorium from rare earth ores requires large amounts of acid and energy, generating hundreds of tonnes of wastewater per gram of purified thorium. Some concerns also exist over the possibility of thorium by-products being weaponized, though experts argue that such materials would not be viable for nuclear bombs.

China’s thorium research coincides with advancements in nuclear propulsion technology. The country recently unveiled the KUN-24AP, the world’s first thorium-powered nuclear container ship design. There are also plans to use thorium reactors for lunar bases, further demonstrating the metal’s importance in future energy solutions.

“The demand for thorium in nuclear power and nuclear propulsion sectors has brought significant opportunities and challenges to the exploration and exploitation of thorium resources in China,” Fan and his team wrote in their report.

The exact estimate of China’s total thorium reserves remains classified due to national security regulations, but the latest findings suggest the country could be sitting on a virtually limitless source of clean energy.

The report was published in the Chinese journal Geological Review.