Yeah, the title calls this out… "Strategic
Comment on China has world’s first operational thorium nuclear reactor thanks to ‘strategic stamina’
sibachian@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
it should perhaps be pointed out that we originally had proposition for both reactors but we ended up with uranium reactors because the US wanted a reason to mine uranium for nuclear bombs and were well aware of the risk difference but didn’t care about the potential lives being lost if something went wrong. later, the cost to develop a thorium reactor had no monetary benefits beyond generating power and keeping people safe so no country wanted to invest in it when the uranium blueprints were available, literally because of capitalism.
douglasg14b@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
All nuclear programs were started for military purposes. “Civilian” nuclear power had always been a fig leaf. While the current Chinese thorium effort is a break from that tradition, it’ll be far too late to make any impact.
Jarix@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Is it actually a break from that tradition? As tech requires more energy, and militaries become more technological, advancing thorium as an energy source that can be done domestically and no longer needing to rely on as much foreign crude, like Canada is gearing up to provide to them, is also a way to support military applications.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Blaming capitalism for every evil in the world is just dumb. Surely Stalin and Mao started their nuclear programs because of capitalism?
Zeta@futurology.today 3 weeks ago
Yup. Capitalism/fascism led to WW2 and the nuclear bombing of Japan, requiring the USSR and China to develop an equally powerful countermeasure.
Hack3900@lemy.lol 3 weeks ago
Yes
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sure, buddy.
sibachian@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
i wasn’t aware they redesigned nuclear from the ground up. why did they pick uranium then?
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Because they wanted bombs.