Photo: Kairos Power (outer image)/ Oak Ridge National Laboratory (inner image)
By most ostensible measures, molten salt-based nuclear fission reactors could dramatically change the global energy grid years or even decades before the first commercial fusion reactor is ready for service. But over 50 years after America's first molten salt reactor experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, a California-based startup called Kairos Power LLC seems dead-set on changing narratives.
Thanks to a newly signed agreement between the US Nuclear Energy Commission and Kairos Power, a fully functional, commercial-grade molten salt fission reactor could be active on American soil far sooner than anyone could have predicted. As per the new agreement, Kairos Power will have the opportunity to construct its novel Hermes-class molten salt reactor at a site at the Heritage Center Industrial Park in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Should it prove successful, such a reactor could re-invent the wheel in terms of American energy production.
Unlike the vast majority of past and contemporary fission reactors, which use regular water, heavy water, or both to cool and sustain a volatile nuclear core and generate steam to drive turbines, molten-salt reactors do away with water entirely in their reactor section. Instead, a powerful solution of sodium and other trace elements is heated well past its melting point before a radioactive isotope like uranium-235 or thorium is introduced to the mix inside a large metal cylinder.
From there, the considerable thermal energy emitted by the mixture is pumped through an intermediate heat exchanger. Only when this thermal energy is introduced to a steam generator with its own separate water supply does a series of turbines begin to rotate, converting thermal energy to usable electricity when a generator harnesses the spinning turbine's energy, then introduced to either a localized or a city-wide energy grid. Compared even to contemporary water-cooled reactors, a molten salt reactor's theoretical ability to generate electricity is more than enough to justify its addition to the Oak Ridge Complex so many years after its first attempt.
"Kairos Power is thrilled to have achieved this major regulatory milestone as we make final preparations to start construction at the Hermes site next year. We are excited for this next phase in the deployment of the Hermes reactor, and we remain committed to being a good community partner to our neighbors in Oak Ridge as we bring value to the region and build on its nuclear legacy," said Mike Laufer, founder and CEO of Kairos Power LLC.
"With the Hermes construction permit now approved, Kairos Power is demonstrating our leadership in developing advanced nuclear reactors and we have made a big step forward on our path to deploying clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy in East Tennessee and beyond." Updates are sure to follow in the coming months.
Unlike the vast majority of past and contemporary fission reactors, which use regular water, heavy water, or both to cool and sustain a volatile nuclear core and generate steam to drive turbines, molten-salt reactors do away with water entirely in their reactor section. Instead, a powerful solution of sodium and other trace elements is heated well past its melting point before a radioactive isotope like uranium-235 or thorium is introduced to the mix inside a large metal cylinder.
From there, the considerable thermal energy emitted by the mixture is pumped through an intermediate heat exchanger. Only when this thermal energy is introduced to a steam generator with its own separate water supply does a series of turbines begin to rotate, converting thermal energy to usable electricity when a generator harnesses the spinning turbine's energy, then introduced to either a localized or a city-wide energy grid. Compared even to contemporary water-cooled reactors, a molten salt reactor's theoretical ability to generate electricity is more than enough to justify its addition to the Oak Ridge Complex so many years after its first attempt.
"Kairos Power is thrilled to have achieved this major regulatory milestone as we make final preparations to start construction at the Hermes site next year. We are excited for this next phase in the deployment of the Hermes reactor, and we remain committed to being a good community partner to our neighbors in Oak Ridge as we bring value to the region and build on its nuclear legacy," said Mike Laufer, founder and CEO of Kairos Power LLC.
"With the Hermes construction permit now approved, Kairos Power is demonstrating our leadership in developing advanced nuclear reactors and we have made a big step forward on our path to deploying clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy in East Tennessee and beyond." Updates are sure to follow in the coming months.
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