China has unveiled plans for a nuclear-powered container ship expected to be the largest ever built, powered by a thorium reactor and boasting a load capacity of 24,000 standard containers.
Jiangnan Shipyard, a division of state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), said the KUN-24AP, featuring a thorium-based Generation IV molten salt reactor, would prove safer and more efficient than the uranium reactors currently used to power warships.
China has an abundant supply of thorium meaning that it could be a cost-effective low-carbon alternative for shipping and other industries.