molten salt reactor (msr)

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During World War II the United States spent a large amount of money on developing nuclear technology. Much of that investment went into industrial systems designed to separate U-235 from U-238, or to transform U-238 into Pu-239. Here such systems were built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, My childhood hometown. The Uranium separation...[read more]

Sometimes dull stories have interesting endings. An examination of materials inputs for wind generation systems and Solar PV generation is offered and then compaired to with material inputs for the Advanced High Temperature Reactor. This study reveals that the AHTR, a near relative of the Molten Salt Reactor, offers material input advantages. MSRs can potentially offer the same material input advantages over renewables, and thus may generate electricity at very competitive costs.[read more]

I must confess that I am of two different minds on the topic of efficiency. On one hand I am critical of the notion that efficiency can replace post carbon energy generation, yet I also have devoted a considerable effort to increasing the efficiency of the process of building nuclear power plants. In addition, I am conducting a...[read more]

Ship propulsion poses one of the more troubling post-carbon problems. It should be noted that ships were once powered by wind energy, sometimes supplemented by oars rowed by slaves. This form of propulsion was very unsatisfactory and renewable energy was replaced by fossil fuel derived energy during the 19th century. There were a...[read more]

One of the fundamental ways to classify Molten Salt Reactors is the concept of one and two fluid reactors. A one fluid reactor is homogeneous, or as David LeBlanc explains, both the fertile and fissile material is within the same carrier salt.It might be added that moderators and fission products can also be carried in the single fluid...[read more]

I intend to offer a series of posts designed to explain the sometimes bewildering complexity of Molten Salt Reactor Technology. This first post explains two nuclear fuel breeding cycles.Rather than offering a single potential reactor design, the Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) idea offers a large number of design options, each of which would...[read more]

Kirk Sorensen is the founder of Flibe Energy. He has been prospecting in libraries for years to learn more about a path not taken (yet). He is convinced that the way forward for energy in the United States and around the world is the molten salt thorium reactor that can produce an almost unlimited amount of power for millennia.The...[read more]

The LFTR story has now been told for the July-August Issue of the American Scientist by Robert Hargraves and Ralph Moir. The American Scientist account tracks closely with the views offered by Nuclear Green. Of course, the LFTR community is collegiate, and both Hargraves and Moir have contributed important ideas to us. The Hargraves-...[read more]

The name Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) is more inclusive than the name Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR). The LFTR is a type of Molten Salt Reactor that features the use fluoride salts and a thorium fuel cycle. Strictly speaking a LFTR need not be designed to produce fuel in a breeding range, but breeding is an important...[read more]