The world’s largest high-capacity boron-10 isotope separation facility has been put into operation in Dongying, East China’s Shandong Province, on June 23, 2026. Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co
China has introduced the commissioning of the world’s largest high-capacity production facility for high-purity boron-10 isotope, with the very best enrichment stage reaching 99.7 p.c, in response to a launch occasion held on Monday in Dongying, East China’s Shandong Province, the Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday.
The venture is seen as a big step towards strengthening China’s functionality in strategic supplies and decreasing reliance on international know-how in a important industrial sector.
The feat was realized by Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co (SRICI) and Shandong Heyi Gas Co, marking a serious breakthrough within the home production of a strategic isotope lengthy dominated by abroad suppliers, the Science and Technology Daily reported.
Industry analysts stated the brand new facility helps fill a key hole in China’s provide chain for supplies utilized in nuclear energy, superior medical purposes, and different high-end industrial fields.
Shang Zhaocong, basic supervisor of the SRICI stated the venture accomplished the complete course of from design and building to full-capacity operation of a 100-ton-scale facility in simply 18 months, achieving a profitable first start-up.
The plant is now producing 25 tons of certified merchandise in secure operation, with boron-10 enrichment reaching 99.7 p.c and room for additional enchancment, in response to the corporate.
“The commissioning of this project means that the strategic material is now independently controllable domestically,” stated Li Bin, vice chairman of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF). “It also makes China one of the few countries capable of large-scale production of high-purity boron-10 isotope,” the Science and Technology Daily reported.
Zhu Weihong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stated the launch of China’s first industrial-scale high-purity boron-10 isotope facility is a “typical example of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance.”
Stable isotopes play a important position in nuclear know-how and medical testing. In nuclear energy purposes, boron-10 absorbs neutrons to manage chain reactions, enabling reactor shutdown, energy adjustment, and compensation for reactivity modifications. It can also be thought of a core materials within the miniaturization of reactors.
However, the separation of boron isotopes has lengthy been considered a worldwide problem.
The analysis workforce from the SRICI adopted a sophisticated chemical change methodology and broke via three core applied sciences: coupled enrichment via complicated change, multi-stage environment friendly and exact cracking, and full-material recycling.
These advances solved long-standing engineering issues in conventional processes, together with low separation effectivity, extreme gear corrosion, simple coking and clogging, and excessive unit consumption, whereas establishing a totally self-controlled technological pathway.
Global Times