Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 38 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

of manufacturing facilities and the creation of a Another Canadian contender is Moltex
HALEU stockpile. Given the time delay before Energy, whose “Wasteburner” reactor design
domestic HALEU supplies become available will use the Plutonium in waste fuel from con-
Terrapower is working with the Deparment of ventional PWR reactors, inside a reactor vessel
Energy to explore the possibility of “downblend- cooled and moderated by molten chloride salts.
ing” highly enriched Uranium 235 (presumably Moltex plans to build a demonstration Waste-
from decommissioned nuclear weapons) to pro- burner next to the Point Lepreau CANDU PWR
vide suitable fission fuel for the Natrium reactor. nuclear power plant in New Brunswick by “the
Another US player is Thorcon. Thorcon’s early 2030s”, but fundraising has been minimal
strategy is to deploy molten salt reactors burn- to date, with probably well under $100m raised
ing Uranium 235 in sealed modular assem- in equity and grants since foundation.
blies mounted on power barges (like a nuclear India, with very large Thorium reserves and
version of Karpower’s highly successful power almost no Uranium reserves, has been paying
ships). About 20% of Thorcon’s energy will attention to a Thorium fuel cycle for decades but
come from added Thorium. Thorcon’s reactors in spite of much talk about its potential has gone
will have some of the benefits of China’s molten no further than a project to include Thorium in
salt reactors (lower operating pressures, lower solid fuel elements for its PWR programme.
production costs, lower risks) but will generate A small US innovator, FLIBE Energy, has
plutonium as a fission product, making repro- been promoting the use of molten Thorium
cessing a strategic risk and cost. Thorcon is salts as reactor fuel since 2011, but with minimal
working on its first deployment with Indonesia. financial investment has still made no moves
In 2020 a key MOU was signed for the build, and towards actual test engineering work.
work is progressing towards a financial round to
fund a 500 MW build starting in 2022 at a yard China likely to disrupt the PWR market
in Surabaya. Meanwhile in June 2022 Thor- worldwide
con announced the start of a High Level Safety At present, therefore, it looks as if China, with
Assessment study with University Gadjah Mada its portfolio of MSR patents, forthcoming real-
Engineering Faculty in Indonesia. world test data and a working design, may well
Canadian company Terrestrial Energy become the dominant provider of MSR reactors
(founded in 2012) has taken advantage of Cana- based on the Thorium fuel cycle to developing
da’s more innovative regulatory environment to economies worldwide. If the system proves its
develop a design for a 390 MWe Uranium-fue- assumptions it will not only create and take a
led molten salt reactor and is presently seeking very large new market – dozens of installations
design approval. Crunchbase reports that Ter- per year at $1-1.5bn per installation – but may
restrial’s total funding to date is in the region of also see the slow death of the new-build PWR
$68m. industry,.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 21•September•2022