Carbon-Free Energy for Global Industry
This is game-changing fission technology: powerful, affordable, carbon-free energy
Who we are
Innovating to transform
Heat makes the modern world go round. It creates the materials of the modern world. It is the energy source for all our cars, ships and planes, the energy source for generating electricity, and making the products of the modern world.
Heat for all these activities today comes from burning fossil fuels. We need a zero-carbon alternative heat source, more scalable, reliable, and economical to displace the burning of fossil fuels, and we need to start deploying it at scale quickly.
50%
More efficient than conventional nuclear power plants
40%
Less waste than conventional nuclear power plants
<5%
Enriched uranium fuel, today’s only safe and secure nuclear fuel standard
<5 grams
Full life-cycle grams of CO2-eq per kilowatt-hour of electricity
>50 years
Plant operating life
7 hectares
Land use for 400MW of electric power
What we do
How we’re working toward a brighter energy future
Innovating on the conventional
Conventional nuclear technology, based on a solid fuel and water coolant, is inherently costly and complex. It cannot supply heat at the temperature industry needs, nor can it deliver at the cost to drive fossil fuel substitution.
For cost-competitive, high-temperature heat, a fission reactor requires a high-performance coolant. Conventional fission technology uses water, Terrestrial Energy uses a molten salt – a coolant with superior performance to water.
Innovating for heat
Our proprietary small modular reactor (SMR) design is called the Integral Molten Salt Reactor or IMSR®. Molten salt fission technology is the heart of our innovative IMSR® heat and power (cogeneration) plant.
With a superior coolant, the IMSR® operates safely at much higher temperatures. Heat supplied at these temperatures can replace heat from burning fossil fuels in many industrial processes and generating electricity. IMSR® cogeneration plants generate carbon-free heat and electric power for industry without emitting air pollution such as CO2, NOX, SOX or PM2.5.
Innovating for cost advantages
With a superior coolant, the IMSR® operates safely at high temperature and low pressure. Conventional water-cooled nuclear technology uses high pressure cooling systems, which are complex and costly. IMSR® plants require no pressurized cooling systems, which has significant cost advantages.
With high-temperature heat supply, IMSR® heat has the efficiency of a coal power plant but without emissions. It can generate electricity with 44% efficiency, 50% higher than conventional nuclear power plant. This too delivers major economic advantages.
Innovating for speed to market
The technology, nuclear fuel and plant design choices used in IMSR® cogeneration plants place it on a clear path to market in a compelling timeframe. We have chosen proven molten salt fission technology, which has been researched, developed and demonstrated for over the last 65 years. A modular design, paired with today’s latest advanced component manufacturing techniques, support construction of an IMSR® cogeneration plant in less than four years. We expect to scale up deployment rapidly when international role-out of IMSR® cogeneration plants starts in 2030.
Learn more about IMSR® technology
