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IPFS News Link • Energy

Modular Molten Salt Reactors Starting 2028 in Canada

• https://www.nextbigfuture.com, by Brian Wang

Terrestrial Energy announced a series of developments that could further its bid to commercialize the Generation IV small modular reactor (SMR) technology and begin operating its first plant by 2028.

The old design was half as large (195-MWe plant). The IMSR is a Generation IV molten-salt reactor that operates at 700C. It supplies its steam turbines with superheated steam at 600C, which potentially raises the system's fuel efficiency to up to 48%. Regular nuclear reactors have fuel efficiency around 30-35% with lower operating temperatures.

Ontario Power Generation's (OPG's) resumed planning activities to build an SMR of up to 300 MW as early as 2028 at its Darlington Nuclear Station in Clarington, Ontario. This is Canada's only site that holds a preparation license for future new nuclear development, with a completed and accepted Environmental Assessment (EA). The utility's indicative schedule assumes that the CNSC (Canada's nuclear regulator) will issue a license to build by 2024, and a license to operate by 2027. Last October, meanwhile, OPG kicked off advanced engineering and design work for that project by choosing three SMR developers: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), Terrestrial Energy, and X-energy.


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