Updates

“Developers of generation IV fission designs, such as Canada’s Terrestrial Energy…have entered into R&D partnerships with utilities, aiming for grid supply by the 2020s,” reads the cover story in MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2019 issue, curated by Bill Gates.

Another generation IV variant, the molten-salt reactor, is safer than earlier designs because it can cool itself even if the system loses power completely. Canadian company Terrestrial Energy plans to build a 190 MW plant in Ontario, with its first reactors producing power before 2030 at a cost it says can compete with natural gas.

Terrestrial Energy has completed its siting study with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) that short-lists a number of sites suitable for a commercial power plant that uses the company’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®).

Terrestrial Energy has completed the pre-qualification stage of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ invitation process to site a Small Modular Reactor at a CNL-managed site. Responding to the CNL’s 2018 invitation, Terrestrial Energy presented a siting proposal to CNL for its 195 MWe Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®).

Dr. James Conca writes that Terrestrial Energy is on its way to making their innovative design, the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®), a reality.

Terrestrial Energy today announced the participation of leading members of the nuclear supply chain and industry in its Nuclear Innovation Working Group. The working group will advise Terrestrial Energy during Phase 2 of its Vendor Design Review program and on the development and deployment of its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®).

NRG is to carry out testing of materials, including graphite, for key components of Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®) power plant in the High-Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands under a contract announced on 5 February.

Terrestrial Energy and NRG announced today a contract for materials testing at NRG’s High-Flux Reactor at Petten. These materials include graphite and will be used in the key components of Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR®) power plant.

There are many reasons to be excited about advanced nuclear reactors. We have, in companies such as NuScale, Terrestrial Energy, Oklo, TerraPower, X-Energy and many more, the entrepreneurial spirit.