A micro-enterprise, Energy Process Developments Ltd, is able with Innovate UK funding to undertake a year-long study of the feasibility of a pilot-scale nuclear molten salt reactor programme. Molten salt reactor technology may have the potential to bring a step-change in the civil nuclear power industry. Nuclear is the only available technology with sufficient energy density to address the challenge of global energy poverty. Molten salt reactor technology claims a role in this, because inherent advantages make it possible to provide energy competitive with coal.
This feasibility study will lead to a choice from the various options of a configuration that will demonstrate for the public, decision makers, and all interested parties, a working pilot-scale reactor that opens a new pathway for the civil nuclear power industry. A pilot-scale reactor can subsequently be scaled up to an industrial proto-type that will lead the way to a new industry-standard reactor for nuclear power.