Three companies will set up advanced testing facility for planned 100 MW plant
Netherlands-based nuclear startup Thorizon has joined forces with Dutch companies Demcon and VDL Group to set up a consortium focused on the development of molten salt small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
Thorizon said in a statement that the goal of the project will be to demonstrate and validate the reactors’ manufacturability and safety and the functionality of critical components and non-nuclear systems.
Under the consortium, the three companies plan to set up an advanced testing facility, the statement said.
Thorizon said the consortium submitted last month a grant application to the province of Noord-Brabant, underlining a commitment to foster innovation and sustainable development in the region.
In 2021, Noord-Brabant began an innovation initiative called ‘Nuclear Energy for the Future’ to capitalise on the expertise of its manufacturing industry and research institutes in order to fast-track the development of molten salt reactors.
The consortium has signed a letter of intent with Differ, a research institute in Eindhoven, to accelerate SMR technology development in the Netherlands.
Thorizon is a spin-off from the Nuclear Research and consultancy Group (NRG) which operates the High Flux research reactor in Petten and manufactures radioisotopes for medical applications.
Demcon is a high-tech company that develops and produces complex systems and products across various sectors, including aerospace, energy, defence, life sciences and health, smart industries, and water and maritime industries.
The Eindhoven-based VDL Group specialises in the manufacturing of a wide variety of industrial products, from parts to advanced finished products, across more than a dozen countries and sectors.
Background: Thorizon’s Molten Salt Reactor
Thorizon is developing a 100-MW molten salt reactor, Thorizon One. The company aims to get a pilot plant running by the mid-2030s.
The company has said its first prototype will be fuelled by a mixture of long-lived radioactive waste from existing nuclear facilities and thorium. In the process, a large portion of the long-lived waste will be transformed into short-lived waste.
Molten salt reactors are powered by a radioactive solution that blends fissionable isotopes with a liquid salt. They can run on uranium, but are also ideally suited for thorium, an alternative nuclear fuel resource that is cleaner, safer, and more abundant than uranium.
Molten salt reactors are said to have advantages over more traditional water-cooled plants, including improved safety and higher efficiency.
Thorizon’s reactor project has received support from the French government under its France 2030 innovation programme and has been selected as a key project by the European Commission in the EU’s SMR industrial alliance framework established last year.
The company which has offices in Amsterdam and Lyon, France, has signed cooperation agreements with Belgium-based Tractebel and France’s Orano and EDF.
