US nuclear regulators to issue construction permit for a reactor that uses molten salt

Source: Associated Press

US nuclear regulators to issue construction permit for a reactor that uses molten salt

BY JENNIFER MCDERMOTT
Updated 11:06 AM EST, December 13, 2023

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a construction permit for a new type of nuclear reactor that uses molten salt to cool the reactor core.

The NRC is issuing the permit to Kairos Power for the Hermes test reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the agency said Tuesday. The reactor won’t generate generate electricity and it will be far smaller than traditional ones.

This is the first construction permit the NRC has issued for a reactor that uses something other than water to cool the reactor core. The United States Atomic Energy Commission, the predecessor to the NRC, did license other types of designs.

Kairos Power is working on fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor technology. The California-based company received funding from the Department of Energy. The 35-megawatt thermal reactor will test the concept of using molten salt as a coolant and test the type of nuclear fuel, the NRC said.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-energy-kairos-power-reactor-molten-salt-cop28-f6066bc945d59c5c36a54b1487d37dd9