US researchers make important progress for molten salt reactors
Nuclear energy is set to return - in the form of molten salt reactors. US researchers have developed a process for producing the necessary fuel.
Uranium chloride fuel salt
(Image: INL)
Molten salt reactors are considered to be the future of nuclear power. US scientists have developed a process to develop the fuel for these reactors.
“It's like baking a cake,” describes Bill Phillips blank, technical director of the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The team spent five years tinkering with the recipe for the fuel. The difficulty was converting the uranium into salt.
“We had to develop the process from scratch,” he says. This also included designing a furnace in which the fuel is produced and creating the necessary safety equipment.
Molten salt reactors are more efficient
Molten salt reactors (MSRs) operate at higher temperatures and pressures than conventional nuclear reactors. As a result, they are more efficient, safer and produce less waste.
They use a mixture of fuel and molten salt. One component of the latter is uranium. In the process, uranium metal must be converted into a compound that dissolves in the molten salt and forms the fuel. In this form, however, it is not so stable and can corrode.
The team had to make many attempts to produce the fuel in the furnace. Each pass was labeled as food, like angel food cake or stone soup, says Phillips.
A lot of uranium was wasted
Initially, they only managed to produce a few grams of fuel at a time. They wasted too much uranium and couldn't produce enough fuel, says MCRE project manager Nick Smith. “After years of experimenting and reworking, we finally found the right process to achieve the perfect yield.”
The team now has the necessary ingredients and knows the exact conditions and methods. Around 18 kilograms have already been produced in one run. In the process, 90 percent of the uranium was converted into salt. “We're almost ready to bake the cake,” summarizes Phillips.
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Next, the team wants to demonstrate large-scale production of the enriched fuel — this should be ready this fall. By 2028, the team wants to build a prototype reactor together with Bill Gates' nuclear energy start-up TerraPower and the US energy company Southern Company. A commercial version should be available in 2035.
(wpl)
