Nuclear plant can recycle long-lived radioactive waste
Belgium-based engineering company Tractebel has signed a three-year partnership with Dutch-French startup Thorizon to advance the Thorizon One molten salt reactor (MSR).
Tractebel will provide engineering services including support on the conceptual design, computational modelling, cost estimates and design reviews.
Tractebel said MSRs have the potential to make nuclear power more sustainable, cost-effective and inherently safe.
The Thorizon One will provide 250 MW of industrial heat, which can be directly used in industrial processes including the chemical industry or hydrogen production, or can be transformed into electricity for 250,000 households.
Thorizon said its first prototype will be fuelled by a mixture of long-lived radioactive waste from existing nuclear facilities and thorium, which is a metal abundant in nature. In the process, a large portion of the long-lived waste will be transformed into short-lived waste.
“What is unique about the Thorizon One concept is that the core is composed of a set of cartridges that is replaced every five to 10 years, Tractebel said. “This concept offers additional advantages in terms of safety, time to market and costs.”
In 2022 Thorizon raised €12.5m ($13.5m) for development of its MSR. Thorizon is a spin-off from the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group which operates the high flux research reactor in Petten in the Netherlands and manufactures radioisotopes for medical applications.
