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Comment by grecy | Hacker News Reader

> I wonder why?

To learn.

Do we need a better reason to try something new?

Nope. But I suspect it's beyond learning. The Chinese may understand nuclear power better than almost anyone else, France not withstanding. I could believe this is a strategic move, to diversify power input sources as well.

Look I am not knocking learning, but I don't think thats the key drive here.

yeah I think that hypothesis has legs. China has been trying to diversify their energy portfolio for a long time now. They're also going full steam ahead on wind and solar and is the world leader in battery storage (lithium ion and other types too). Fossil fuel, other than coal, has always been a major weakness for China that can be choked off via the Straits of Malacca.

I wonder if powering their reactor using thorium from their rare earth minerals mining is significantly cheaper than using uranium. Thorium also have the advantage of a very low weapons proliferation risk so it might be easier for China to export thorium reactors. This may play into China's long term plan to develop the global south as an alternative market (and counterweight) to the West.

I mean learning for learnings sake is more surprising then learning for a purpose.

"full steam ahead on wind and solar" the only two generation strategies that don't involve steam ;)

Closed-cycle gas turbine is possible with molten salt reactors!

concentrated solar uses steam

One day they might be able to sell ready made thorium reactors. That would be big business.

Straits of Malacca is a red herring. The strait is the shortest route from Persian Gulf to China. But there are other routes through Indonesia, or could take detour around Indonesia or even Australia. The US Navy can block anywhere.

Also, there are supertankers bigger than Malaccamax, the largest ships than can use the strait. The Chinamax and Capesize ships are bigger.

I believe this is mainly due to China's strong sense of crisis regarding energy supply. If it had as abundant fossil fuel resources as the United States and Russia, it likely wouldn't have invested so heavily in diversifying its energy sources. The development and support of new energy vehicles can also be largely attributed to this.

China has something like 35 years of coal reserves, based on current estimates and assuming mining holds flat.

Given the ~50% of their energy mix that's coal [0], that becomes a fix-it-ASAP problem for their economy.

[0] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-energy-source-sub?c...

Heavy dependence on coal has led to severe environmental pollution. As winter approaches and cold fronts sweep down from the north, increased heating needs drive up thermal power generation, releasing more pollutants into the air. During periods of stagnant weather with no wind or rain, smog settles over the sprawling plains, triggering both public health concerns and mounting pressure on the government to address the issue and explore alternative energy sources.

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