China, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, says it will deploy advanced nuclear reactors commercially by 2030.
By Richard Martin on October 16, 2015
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/542526/china-details-next-gen-nuclear-reactor-program/#comments
This story from MIT has me wondering; how sovereign is China over its own development? Why does China have to collaborate with the American Department of Energy in order to develop LFTR? They have plenty of talented engineers and physicists that should be able to develop the technology on their own. It appears as though the Chinese have American minders to make sure the technology is not developed for the military applications that the United State developed these reactors for in the first place.
I am skeptical as to whether or not the Chinese will ever bring this technology to market. If it takes 15 years to make this a reality, it is probably not going to happen. This story also reminds me of the program to buy up the plutonium and uranium from Soviet warheads that the DOE set up with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Depending on the degree to which this program has disarmed Russia the sovereignty of Russia must also come into question.
The American ruling class created and demonstrated a first strike capability in the 1950's. This is what the U-2 and B-57 overflight program of the 1950's showed the Soviets. It was a psychological warfare campaign. It let the Soviet ruling class know that they could experience a Pearl Harbor at any moment. I believe this capability has been maintained and has the Russians cowed to a certain extent.
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