ThorCon: innovative salt melt plant

ThorCon Nuclear Island

ThorCon Underground Nuclear Reactor - A simple salt melt reactor (liquid salt reactor) in which fuel is stored in liquid form. The authors of the project believe that this is the safest and most reliable source of nuclear energy.

The nuclear installation is supposed to be placed at a depth of 30 meters underground. Four gas-tight barriers are located between the fuel storage and the surface, three of which are at a depth of more than 25 meters. Unlike almost all existing reactors, ThorCon operates at a pressure that is virtually indistinguishable from atmospheric pressure. When the main circuit breaks, energy dissipation does not occur. Spilled fuel simply flows into the drain tank, where it is cooled.

The most problematic cleavage products - strontium-90 and cesium-137 - are chemically bound to the salt and, together with it, flow into the drain tanks.

If overheating occurs for some reason, ThorCon will automatically shut off, drain the fuel from the main circuit and passively absorb heat from decay. No operator intervention required. Moreover, the operator cannot in any way interfere with the process of draining fuel and cooling, which provides "protection from the fool."

The developers emphasize that ThorCon does not use any experimental and new technologies, everything has been studied for a long time. ThorCon is simply an enlarged copy of the proven and well-proven Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). Since the pilot project was successful, it would be logical to verify the design in full size. The authors believe that within four years it is possible to put into operation a prototype at 250 MWe and there is no reason why it would not work.

Verification of the prototype will be completed in the coming years, and after regulatory approval, it will be possible to build a new type of nuclear power plant in the USA.

The modular reactor assumes fast assembly.



Excavation, installation of equipment and launch of the reactor on 1 GWe will take no more than a year. For installation, an area of ​​10 hectares is needed.



The cost of clean electricity at ThorCon is estimated at about 3-5 cents per kWh, depending on the power of the reactor.