Articles
UK-based molten salt reactor (MSR) development start-up, Moltex Energy, has been chosen as having the most promising design for a first nuclear fission MSR pilot-scale plant, following a year-long feasibility study funded by Innovate UK.
The study was led by Energy Process Developments (EPD), and first proposed by its founder Jasper Tomlinson in 2014. Tomlinson highlighted the potential of the technology which could provide a safe, sustainable and affordable alternative to existing pressurised water reactors.
Moltex Energy’s stable salt reactor was chosen from six potential MSR configurations proposed by start-ups Flibe Energy, ThorCon Power, Seaborg Technologies, Terrestrial Energy and Transatomic Power.
Rory O’Sullivan, director at EPD and project manager of the feasibility study, said: “These companies have changed the scene of molten salt reactors. It was regarded as a technology that was at least 30 years away but these new start-ups have come up with innovation solutions that have got rid of a lot of the engineering difficulties, meaning they can be developed today.”
The designs have overcome common problems associated with MSR including corrosion issues and engineering complexities with mobile fissile fluid.
Moltex’s stable salt reactor is a fast spectrum pool type reactor. Unlike all the other design concepts considered, its fuel is static, providing additional levels of safety, said the firm. Static fuel means there is no need for pumps or other devices to control the flow. The full-size version is proposed at 1GWe and the prototype at 150MWth, but run at a lower power.
The fuel salt is derived from spent nuclear fuel in a sodium chloride solution that sits in tubes in a pool of coolant salt. These are arranged in arrays similar to conventional solid fuel arrays in a light water reactor.
A consortium led by Moltex will carry out experimental validation of the stable salt reactor in early 2016.