Company hails milestone in fuel cycle strategy for advanced nuclear plants
Paris-based nuclear startup Naarea has announced the development of a method for synthesising key salts as a step in advancing molten salt reactor technology.
The company said in a statement that a proliferation-resistant pyrochemical method for the creation of NaCl-PuCl3 salts came as a result of a partnership with its Innovation Molten Salt Lab (IMSLab) and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Naarea said that the work successfully demonstrated that bubbling gas through a mixture of sodium chloride (NaCl) and plutonium oxide (PuO2) at high temperatures enables the quantitative dissolution of plutonium oxide to form plutonium chloride-based salt.
Further characterisation is planned to confirm the purity and fundamental properties of the fuel salt, said Naarea.
The process was carried out with specialised experimental equipment developed and operated by the JRC. The JRC is the European Commission’s in-house science and knowledge service, providing independent scientific advice and technical support to EU policymakers and other institutions.
IMSLab is a joint laboratory created by Naarea, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Paris-Saclay University. It is dedicated to research on molten salt fuels
According to Naarea, the validation of this method represents an initial milestone in its fuel cycle strategy and is vital to establishing the feasibility of liquid fuel for molten salt reactors.
Naarea, which stands for Nuclear Abundant Affordable Resourceful Energy for All, is designing its eXtra small modular reactor, or XAMR, which will combine Generation IV molten salt and fast neutron reactor technology.
XAMR’s output will vary between 1 MW and 40 MW. It will be powered by material recycled from spent nuclear fuel. The company has said its project can help close the conventional fuel cycle.
Naarea aims to bring the XAMR to market in the 2030s. The company is a winner of France’s call for proposals for innovative nuclear reactor technology under the France 2030 investment plan.
According to the French Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection, Naarea completed a project preparatory review in 2024, paving the way for a pre-licensing application, which has yet to be submitted.
