Molten Salt Reactors — no loss of coolant accidents, no nuclear meltdown?

Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) are a type of nuclear reactor that is gaining attention in the scientific community due to their potential to revolutionize the energy industry. Unlike traditional nuclear reactors, MSRs use a liquid fuel (a molten salt) that is circulated through the reactor, eliminating the need for solid fuel rods; this allows safety, less waste, greater control over the reaction.

One of the most significant advantages of MSRs is their inherent safety features, including no “loss of coolant accidents” and no risk of nuclear meltdown. This has made them an attractive option for countries looking to transition to more sustainable forms of energy without sacrificing safety.

As research into MSRs continues, it is becoming increasingly clear that they could play a crucial role in meeting our future energy needs.

A Molten Salt Reactor fissions over 99% of its fuel. Light Water Reactors (the most common type of nuclear reactor in the world, solid fueled, water cooled) only fission about 3% of their fuel.

The waste generated in MSR is harmless within 350 years (radioactivity below background levels), with 83% of it safe in just 10 years. This is in contrast to the waste produced by Light Water Reactors, which requires storage for over 100,000 years to become safe.

To run a 1 gigawatt Molten Salt Reactor for a year uses only 1 ton of fuel, and produces only 1 ton of waste; instead of 250 tons of waste from a solid-fueled reactor.

MSR uses coolant that is stable even at very high temperatures, and no water — no high-pressure to contain, no loss of coolant accidents, no risk of hydrogen explosions; therefore, no massive containment structure is needed.

Molten Salt Reactors possess natural safety features, such as the coolant won’t boil away; as well as automatic safety measures, like the secure drainage of fuel to cooling tanks where there is no chance of nuclear reaction, regardless of any power outages.

“No water” also means that water-soluble waste products such as cesium, that in LWR can easily get into food, are instead strongly chemically bound to the fuel salt. The fuel salt solidifies (cools to solid) quickly in any leak, doesn’t dissolve in water, doesn’t chemically react with anything in the reactor or in the environment. Any accident cleanup would be a few cubic meters of chemically stable solid materials.

Any type of MSR has an inherently stable reaction rate. The molten fuel expands/contracts with temperature, regulating fission; that strongly regulates the fuel temperature.

While in LWR the temperature inside the fuel pellets is always higher than the materials can handle if cooling fails, in MSR the fuel temperature is always far below what the materials can handle, even without power or operator intervention.

Aside from the obvious “the fuel is already molten”, a “nuclear meltdown” where the fuel melts through the reactor vessel, is physically impossible in MSR.

And we even operated one for 5 years, in the 1960s. Now several companies in countries around the world are designing and starting to build them.

Please visit my Molten Salt Reactor website. It is fascinating, and we would like what happens when we build them.