Recently, the Chinese government has been testing a thorium nuclear reactor that uses molten salt as a coolant. Although this radioactive element has been trialed in reactors before, experts say that China is the first to have a shot at commercializing the technology.

The Wuwei reactor is designed to produce just 2 megawatts of thermal energy, which is only enough to power up to 1,000 homes.

But if the experiments are a success, China hopes to build a reactor that could power hundreds of thousands of homes by 2030.

So could Thorium Nuclear Reactors be the answer to all of our current climate woes?

Simon Middleburgh, Professor of Materials at the Nuclear Futures Institute in Bangor University joins Jonathan to discuss.