In 1969, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee switched off a pioneering experiment in nuclear power generation for the last time. Now, the Chinese government has given the go-ahead for a plant based on their blueprint in Gansu Province, in western China. The Gansu plant — which uses what’s known as a Thorium Molten-Salt Reactor — was jointly developed by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) and the State Nuclear Power Automation System Engineering Company. While it is still at the experimental stage, analysts say it represents a breakthrough in the next generation of nuclear energy technology: The reactor is safer than those currently in use around the world, and it requires far less water during the cooling process. Its development is testament to China’s rising status in the global nuclear industry. “China has the potential to become a nuclear leader in the same way it became a solar leader,”