Danish company plans experiments to validate TMSR nuclear technology
Danish thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR) developer Copenhagen Atomics has signed an experimental collaboration agreement with Switzerland’s Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), to validate the TMSR technology.
The partnership between Copenhagen Atomics and PSI aims to conduct a thorium molten salt critical experiment in 2026, a statement said.
Copenhagen Atomics said the experiment will provide valuable experience for the design, construction, licensing, operation and decommissioning of the new MSR technology and collect data for commercial deployment.
The collaboration agreement runs initially for four years and will position Europe at the forefront of advanced reactors, Copenhagen Atomics said.
It said TMSR technology has huge potential to become one of the world’s most abundant energy sources. To date, the bulk of TMSR experiments have taken place in China, so this represents “a major step forward for the tech in Europe”, Copenhagen Atomics said.
The company said the use of thorium over uranium has several advantages. Thorium, a naturally occurring radioactive metal that is found in soil, rock and water, is much more abundant than uranium and there is enough thorium in the Earth’s crust to “cover the entire lifetime of the human race”.
According to Copenhagen Atomics, thorium offers a lower price per kWh of energy generated and produces less long-lived nuclear waste than uranium.
In 2023 Copenhagen Atomics said it had raised €20m ($21.4m) to accelerate the development of its TMSR technology.
Co-founder Thomas Jam Pedersen said the funding would support plans to have the first commercial reactors online in 2028.
A rendering of a power plant based on Copenhagen Atomics thorium molten salt modular reactors. Courtesy Copenhagen Atomics.
