Americas News
US Scientists Unlock Key to Nuclear-Powered Ships with New Reactor Fuel
Scientists at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have developed a breakthrough fuel for molten chloride fast reactors (MCFR), a reactor technology that nuclear technology firm Core Power envisions for nuclear-powered ships.
“After five years of trying to find the right ingredients, scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) believe they have created the perfect recipe to fuel the world’s first critical fast-spectrum molten salt reactor,” INL said in a statement on its website.
They will now test a reactor using molten chloride salt and uranium as both fuel and coolant. This will help researchers assess the safety and performance of the MCFR, which is being developed by Southern Company and TerraPower.
“It’s like baking a cake," Bill Phillips, technical lead at INL’s molten chloride reactor experiment, said.
Phillips noted that the key challenge was efficiency — converting over 90% of metal uranium feedstock into usable fuel salt.
“Nobody has ever made this amount of uranium chloride before.
“We had to develop the process from scratch.”
As the shipping industry explores nuclear energy for decarbonisation, advancements like this are key to making it viable.
The next step is demonstrating full-scale production of enriched fuel salt.
Core Power asserts that MCFR offers unparalleled advantages over conventional reactor designs. The MCFR can burn up to 100 times more uranium than traditional reactors and features a compact, efficient design.
This technology could lead to the development of nuclear-powered ships and floating nuclear power plants, which are being developed by Core Power.
Mikal Bøe, CEO of Core Power, told Ship & Bunker last year that he expects the first orders of vessels equipped with nuclear reactors before the end of this decade.
