Terrestrial Energy Receives US Department of Energy GAIN Award for Integral Molten Salt Reactor Fuel Testing

Source: | · EMISSIONS REDUCTION ALBERTA · | June 28, 2024

PNNL will partner with Terrestrial Energy to analyze performance of IMSR fuel salts

Terrestrial Energy, a leading developer of a Generation-IV nuclear plant, has received an award from the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) to accelerate the development of the nuclear systems at the heart of its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) plant. The award supports Terrestrial Energy’s partnership with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to conduct thermophysical analyses of the IMSR fuel salt under a range of reactor operating conditions.

GAIN awards enable companies to access the deep expertise in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) national laboratory network. The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy created GAIN to support nuclear innovation and specifically to accelerate commercial deployment of next-generation reactor technologies, such as Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR.

“The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has excellent research capabilities that are directly relevant to our testing program for IMSR fuel salt in preparation for license applications,” said Simon Irish, CEO of Terrestrial Energy. “We look forward to partnering with the laboratory on these important measurements and tests of IMSR fuel salt.”

Terrestrial Energy has designed the IMSR to avoid use of high assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, which is required for many next-generation (Generation IV) reactors in development today.  IMSR uses low-enriched uranium at enrichment levels under 5%, which is today’s standard fuel produced by nuclear fuel suppliers. This is an important IMSR design characteristic that strongly facilitates near-term fleet deployment of IMSR plants.