China is doing some wonderful work with nuclear power - from Neutron Bytes:
China comes calling for CANDU
The Montreal, Canada, based engineering and construction giant SNC-Lavalin, which five years ago, bought AECL’s reactor division from the government, has a new joint venture with China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and Shanghai Electric Co.
The immediate results of the agreement will be the creation of two nuclear reactor design centers, one in China and the other in Canada. The design centers will collaborate to complete the Advanced Fuel CANDU Reactor (AFCR). It is expected that the first two units will be then built in China and then the reactor will offered via export to global markets.
It is not LFTR but CANDU is an excellent design from many standpoints:
What is CANDU?
CANDU stands for CANada Deuterium Uranium, because it was invented in Canada, uses deuterium oxide (also known as heavy water) as a moderator, and uranium as a fuel.
CANDU reactors are unique in that they use natural, unenriched uranium as a fuel; with some modification, they can also use enriched uranium, mixed fuels, and even thorium. Thus, CANDU reactors are ideally suited for using spent fuel from light water nuclear reactors, or downblended uranium from decommissioned nuclear weapons, as fuel, helping to reduce global arsenals.
They still use high-pressure water to cool the core which leads to potential steam explosion if there is a breach in the pressure vessel. Running on unenriched Uranium is a big plus - the energy densities are not as high so recovery from an incident is not as immediate a concern. The fact that it can run with Thorium or other reactor waste is a bonus.
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