US-based Jacobs was selected by Moltex Energy to support their development of a new type of nuclear power plant – the stable salt reactor (SSR).
Jacobs said it will build a bespoke experimental facility for thermal transfer testing at its Birchwood Park research and development facility in the UK.
Based on breakthrough science, Moltex Energy’s SSR is designed to generate low-cost electricity by burning processed spent fuel pellets which would otherwise have to be stored as radioactive waste.
Jacobs said it will build a bespoke experimental facility for thermal transfer testing at its Birchwood Park research and development facility in the UK.
Based on breakthrough science, Moltex Energy’s SSR is designed to generate low-cost electricity by burning processed spent fuel pellets which would otherwise have to be stored as radioactive waste.
To assist with validation of thermal transfer modelling, Jacobs’ chemistry, materials, engineering, instrumentation and modelling teams will collaborate to create a technically complex simulation to replicate the heat output of a fuel channel and to validate computational fluid dynamics modelling of the thermal transfer across the fuel assemblies into the coolant.
Jacobs said the SSR design is significant because of its potential to recycle waste in a clean, safe and economical way, generating electricity which will power communities while reducing carbon emissions.
Moltex has been awarded more than $6m in funding from US Department of Energy agency,to help develop the reactor, which is cooled using molten salt.
