Eight parties have signed a memorandum of understanding to build what they say will be Europe’s first commercial molten salt reactor in the Netherlands, potentially at the site of the existing Borssele nuclear power station.

The MoU is geared towards construction of a Thorizon Pioneer non-nuclear demonstrator in the province of Zeeland, in the west of the country. It secures a site for the nuclear demonstrator at the NRG Pallas site in Noord-Holland and also advances the validation of a site for Thorizon One, the first commercial molten salt reactor, at Borssele in Zeeland.

“With this coalition in place, Thorizon moves from development into deployment, with the demonstrator reactor operating in 2030 while targeting the first commercial reactor on the European grid by 2034,” a statement said.

The MoU was signed by reactor developer Thorizon, EPZ, NRG Pallas, the provinces of Zeeland and Noord-Holland, and development agencies Impuls Zeeland, ROM InWest and Invest-NL. Thorizon was originally a spin-off from NRG.