SMRs & ADVANCED REACTORS | THORIZON’S MSR
MSRs and the future of energy security
A new approach to molten salt reactors design aims to solve many of the challenges that have hampered development to date. With its fast spectrum
reactor fuelled with a mixture of long-lived radioactive waste from existing nuclear facilities and thorium, Thorizon might be just what the energy world needs.
By Kiki Lauwers, CEO, Thorizon
IN THE WINTER OF 2022 energy prices surged across Europe, lights dimmed, factories slowed, and governments scrambled for options. It was a wake-up call: we still rely on fragile, centralised energy systems vulnerable to geopolitics and supply shocks. What if the answer wasn’t more fossil fuels, but a smarter, safer kind of nuclear that could run on yesterday’s waste and tomorrow’s abundant materials? It wouldn’t be the first time such a solution was within
reach. Back in the 1960s, a small team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US successfully ran a Molten Salt Reactor (MSR). It was stable, self-regulating, and efficient – a quiet revolution in nuclear design. But the project was put aside, buried under the politics and priorities of its time. Now, as climate urgency mounts and energy security becomes critical, molten salt technology is getting a second look.
Molten salt reactors Molten Salt Reactors are Generation IV designs that use molten salt as both fuel and coolant. In these systems,
nuclear fuel is dissolved in a high-temperature, low- pressure liquid salt mixture. Unlike traditional reactors that rely on fixed fuel rods
and leave behind long-lived and high activity waste, molten salt reactors can run on a much broader mix of fuels. That includes some of the hardest to manage nuclear materials like spent fuel along with materials that have barely been tapped, like depleted uranium and thorium. The design has built-in safety features. Because
the system runs at low pressure, it reduces the risk of explosive failures. Also, since the salt in the system is a liquid, it expands with rising temperature, which naturally slows down the fission reaction without needing human intervention. Add in the ability to eliminate long-lived waste and run more efficiently than conventional reactors, you have a technology with real potential. While molten salt reactors have long been admired for their potential, building one that could survive real-world conditions and meet modern safety standards has been difficult primarily due to two challenges:
Above: An artist’s impression of the Thorizon One power plant 22 | April 2025 |
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