Stable salt reactor
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The Stable Salt Reactor (SSR) is a nuclear reactor design under development by Moltex Energy Canada Inc.[1] and its subsidiary Moltex Energy USA LLC, based in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as MoltexFLEX Ltd., based in the United Kingdom.
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The SSR design being developed by Moltex Energy Canada Inc. is the Stable Salt Reactor - Wasteburner (SSR-W), which incorporates elements of the molten salt reactor, and aims to have improved safety characteristics (intrinsically safe) and economics (LCOE of $45/MWh USD or less) over traditional light water reactors.
SSRs, which are protected by robust patents, are being designed so that they will not need expensive containment structures and components to mitigate radioactive releases in accident scenarios. The design would preclude the type of widespread radiological contamination that occurred in the Chernobyl or Fukushima accidents, because any hazardous isotopes that might otherwise become airborne would be chemically bound to the coolant.[2] Additionally, the modular design would allow factory production of components and delivery to site by standard road transportation, reducing costs and construction timescales.
The fuel design is a hybrid between light water reactor fuel assemblies and traditional molten salt reactor approaches, in which the fuel is mixed with the coolant. The liquid salt fuel mixture is contained within fuel assemblies that are very similar to current light water reactor technology. The fuel assemblies are then submerged in a pool of liquid salt coolant.
Moltex Energy Canada Inc. plans to deploy the SSR-W and associated waste recycling facility in New Brunswick, Canada in partnership with NB Power.[3] The company has support and funding from the Canadian federal government,[4] the government of New Brunswick,[5] NB Power, Ontario Power Generation,[6] ARPA-E,[7][8] IDOM,[9] SNC Lavalin.[10]