China Boasts Breakthrough in Nuclear Technology

[The Straight Story]

China Boasts Breakthrough in Nuclear Technology

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese scientists have made a breakthrough in spent fuel reprocessing technology that could potentially solve China's uranium supply problem, state television reported on Monday.

The technology, developed and tested at the No.404 Factory of China National Nuclear Corp in the Gobi desert in remote Gansu province, enables the re-use of irradiated fuel and is able to boost the usage rate of uranium materials at nuclear plants by 60 folds.

"With the new technology, China's existing detected uranium resources can be used for 3,000 years," Chinese Central Television reported.

...

But independent scientists argued that commercial application of nuclear fuel reprocessing has always been hindered by cost, technology, proliferation risk and safety challenges.

China has 171,400 tons of proven uranium resources spread mainly in eight provinces -- Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Liaoning and Yunnan.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=12525886

[dkf]

1. Someone tried to make a point in one of the education threads...

What has China done with all these great test scores.

I googled the words "China leads" and was amazed how far they have come. We scoff at Asia's pursuit of excellence in education at our own peril and I think we may have already lost the game.

[lunasun]

2. One key phrase on that post- if it is the same one- was

""what I saw while teaching several years ago in China""...I wondered how long ago was that??...I think a lot of folks do not realize the speed of change there.

My spouse just returned from shanghai so it is not just some commie propaganda I am reading.

But they do have a different education system and maybe while some kid(not all)here in US is playing Xbox by 7pm and then chilling with their IPod b4 bed the kid in China is still doing homework and then practicing violin or a second language for fun b4 bed.

so grasshopper and ants and you cant really compare

I think we would be alright if folks in this country could get off their ego at having to be #1 in everything and thinking -our way or the wrong way- mentality. Only OUR education system is good; others =bad

There actually is something to be said for diversity or learning from other methods

So one kid is a nuclear physicist there and one kid here invents facebook .
There is room for many ways to move forward on this planet only many here, it seems to me, don't want to share and hate to see other countries excel in any way.
I find that a bad attitude usually fostered by insecurity and a little of that 'chicken little ' complex

[dkf]

4. How can we expect a standard of living so much higher than the rest of the world if they have a

Better educational system, more flexible and no burden of trillions in debt?

It is not chicken little to see that while our advantages fade, others are growing.

And no, that isn't the thread I saw.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. That could be good news. Still gonna need to deal with waste, though.

But short term could pose much-needed good news on the atmospheric CO2 front.