Southern Company working with DOE and other partners on salt reactor project
Southern Company is working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other partners to build and operate the world’s first critical fast-spectrum salt reactor.
The Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment will be the world’s first fast-spectrum, salt-fueled nuclear fission reactor to go critical, meaning it is operating on a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
Southern Company research and development (R&D) will lead the effort in a collaboration that includes TerraPower, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), CORE POWER, Orano Federal Services, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and 3M Company. The project was selected for funding under the DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). The team’s alliance with DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy through the ARDP is essential for delivering this technology. It is supported by a five-year, $170 million cost-shared funding agreement.
“Southern Company is committed to advancing next-generation nuclear as part of a comprehensive strategy to deliver clean, safe, reliable, affordable energy to the customers we’re privileged to serve,” Dr. Mark S. Berry, Southern Company vice president of R&D, said. “The Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment will support the commercialization of a revolutionary technology on a timescale that addresses climate change benchmarks and delivers on Southern Company’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We’re honored to work with DOE and our many industry team members on this truly groundbreaking experiment.”
The MCFR is one of the most advanced Generation IV nuclear technologies under development. It offers several benefits, including flexible, highly efficient clean electric power generation as a complement to the increased use of intermittent renewable resources on the grid. Further, this technology has the potential to provide carbon-free high-grade process heat and thermal storage for difficult-to-decarbonize industrial markets and ocean transportation sectors.
“Our past work with Southern Company has led to important experimental milestones and to the establishment of unique test facilities necessary to validate molten salt reactor technology,” Chris Levesque, TerraPower’s president and CEO, said. “Southern Company’s leadership and experience in reactor licensing and operation has been essential. The Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment will continue this important work in a critical reactor experiment, leading to the successful development of low-cost, clean energy for the future.”
Through a public-private partnership in 2015, Southern Company and TerraPower were awarded roughly $40 million from DOE to build the infrastructure necessary to support the early development of MCFR technology.
The Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment is targeted for operation at the Idaho National Laboratory. INL has been the home of 52 reactor demonstration projects, and the lab is currently working with private industry, universities, and other federal stakeholders to demonstrate advanced commercial reactors.
Representatives from Southern Company, TerraPower, INL, and DOE attended a project initiation ceremony on Oct. 20 in Idaho Falls.
“The core of INL’s heritage is demonstrating nuclear reactors and this opportunity to bring the first-ever fast-spectrum molten salt reactor critical is remarkable and significant. INL is honored to be part of this historic public-private collaboration,” INL Director John Wagner said at the Oct. 20 ceremony.
