Company says IMSR plant is ‘affordable and financeable’
US-based small modular reactor developer Terrestrial Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the siting and deployment of Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) plants at sites owned by nuclear decommissioning and waste processing company EnergySolutions.
EnergySolutions, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is one of the largest processors of low-level waste in the US, making it also one of the world's largest nuclear waste processors.
Terrestrial Energy said in a press release that EnergySolutions owns a number of brownfield sites for potential new nuclear deployment. One of those sites is the Kewaunee nuclear power station on the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. The single-unit Kewaunee was permanently shut down in 2013.
In June 2023, EnergySolutions announced a study of former nuclear sites acquired by the company to determine potential locations for new nuclear generation.
Terrestrial Energy and EnergySolutions have assessed these sites as potential locations in North America for IMSR plants that could benefit from accelerated deployment schedules. Under the terms of the MOU, the companies will now evaluate these sites and select the most suitable.
Terrestrial Energy said its IMSR plant uses molten salt reactor technology for an “affordable and financeable nuclear plant” that generates low-cost, clean and reliable industrial heat and electric power.
IMSR plants can be customised to meet specific site demand requirements, enabling them to provide power for chemical, oil and gas, petrochemical, data centres and other energy-intensive industrial activities, Terrestrial Energy said.
Molten salt reactors are said to have advantages over more traditional water-cooled plants, including improved safety and higher efficiency.
