US Generation IV company targeting range of markets for IMSR plant
US-based small modular reactor (SMR) developer Terrestrial Energy has merged with an acquisition company in a deal that will result in it becoming a public company to be listed on Nasdaq.
The North Carolina-based company said expects to net $280m (€260m) from the special purpose acquisition company (Spac) deal with HCM II Acquisition Corp.
A Spac, or blank-cheque company, is a shell company that goes public through an initial public offering (IPO) with the sole purpose of acquiring a private company, effectively taking it public without a traditional IPO.
Before the merger, Terrestrial Energy had raised $94m, according to capital market data company PitchBook.
Terrestrial Energy expects to list on Nasdaq under the symbol IMSR, a reference to its Generation IV SMR, which it calls an integral molten salt reactor (IMSR). In such a device, uranium fuel is mixed with various salts, such as lithium fluoride or sodium fluoride, that serve to suspend the nuclear fuel and act as the reactor’s main coolant.
Terrestrial Energy’s reactor core is designed to be entirely replaced every seven years, in part to mitigate some of the problems earlier molten salt reactors experienced like corrosion.
The plant is designed to use of low-cost, readily available standard-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, enabling the secure and scalable fuel supply chains needed for widespread fleet deployment, Terrestrial Energy said.
Terrestrial Energy believes the use of LEU fuel is a key advantage given significant challenges to the commercial supply of high-assay low- enriched uranium, known as Haleu, due to geopolitical tensions. Currently, Haleu is produced commercially only in Russia, but the US Department of Energy has signed contracts with companies to produce it domestically.
According to Terrestrial Energy, the IMSR plant offers “high efficiency and inherently safe operation”.
The startup is targeting a range of markets, including electric power, data centres, and industrial applications that require heat.
Texas A&M University recently selected Terrestrial Energy to partner on the construction of a commercial IMSR plant at its Rellis campus.
Last year Terrestrial Energy received an award from the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (Gain) programme to accelerate the development of the nuclear systems at the heart of its IMSR plant.
