Such a reactor could provide energy to ships and other autonomous objects.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the construction of a nuclear power plant with a molten salt reactor – a reactor in which the coolant base is a mixture of molten salts that can operate at high temperatures while remaining at low pressure.
Almost all nuclear reactors operating today use water for cooling. However, their cores can reach temperatures of 300℃, which is much higher than the boiling point of water at 100°C – to prevent evaporation and maintain water in a liquid state at such high temperatures, great pressure is required, which in turn requires additional technology, space and money. On the other hand, some salt mixtures have a higher boiling point, so they do not require the same expensive high pressure environments.
“You can use it at such high temperatures and it won't boil,” Nicholas W. Smith, leader of the molten chloride reactor pilot project at Idaho National Laboratory, told Business Insider. “You don't have to have big fat pressure tanks to hold coolant.”
The first molten salt reactor, tested back in the 1950s, was small enough to fit on an airplane, while, for example, the energy-producing portion of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California occupies 50 thousand square meters .m. land, according to Berkeley Engineering.
Molten salt reactors have not been used in the United States since the 1970s.
The project is led by Kairos Power, a company that plans to build a test station called Hermes with a reactor cooled by molten fluoride salts in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, by 2027. The first version will not supply electricity, but the company hopes its successor, Hermes 2, will do so by 2028.
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Hermes is configured to operate at temperatures up to 650℃, and its coolant mixture made of lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride boils at approximately 1500℃, well above the temperature of the reactor core. Thus, the coolant will be liquid without additional pressure.
Kairos Power also plans to use granular TRISO fuel, which, according to the US Nuclear Energy Administration, can withstand extreme temperatures better than modern fuels, reducing the likelihood of releasing radioactive fission products.
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At the same time, challenges remain, and the main one is finding an effective way to limit corrosion.
“Oxygen is sort of the driving force for molten salt corrosion,” Smith said.
Another disadvantage is that such reactors will produce multiple waste streams and may face disposal problems.