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       I have blogged about molten salt reactors (MSR). In a MSR, nuclear materials are dissolved in a molten fluoride or chloride salt. The molten salt becomes both the fuel for the reactor and the coolant for the fission reaction. The meltdowns feared in conventional power reactors are impossible in MSRs.
        Terrestrial Energy USA (TE) is a startup working on what they refer to as an Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR). In the TE design, the primary reactor components which include primary heat exchangers are integrated with a secondary clean salt circuit in a sealed and replaceable core vessel. It is a small modular reactor designed for fabrication in a factory. It can be used to generate one hundred and ninety megawatts of electricity or as a source for industrial heat generation. TE hopes to be able to produce a commercial version of the IMSR in the 2020s.
       TE started a feasibility study in June of 2017 for the siting of the first commercial IMSR at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratory facility at Chalk River, Ontario. Last March, TE signed a memorandum of understanding with respect to possible siting, construction and operation of an IMSR at the Idaho National Laboratory in southern Idaho.
       TE has announced that it is going to partner with Southern Energy Company and several U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories to utilize the ISMR for the production of hydrogen. Southern Energy Company (SE) is an U.S. independent oil and gas company that invested in oil and gas. It operates primarily in Texas and Oklahoma.
       The Savanah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been researching such technology for twenty years. SRNL will lead the development of technology for the TE project with assistance from Sandia National Laboratories and Idaho National Laboratory.

       Hydrogen is used in the production of ammonia, petroleum refining, the production of other industrial chemicals and other industrial applications. In the future, it is expected that hydrogen will play an increasing role in energy storage. Applications will include being used as fuel for all forms of transportation. The hydrogen market is projected to reach over two hundred billion dollars by 2020.
       Hydrogen is currently produced by high-temperature steam electrolysis. TE and SE hope that their new process will be more efficient than electrolysis. In their new approach, the hybrid sulfur process will be combined with an IMSR plant for large scale hydrogen production. The hybrid sulfur process is a two-step thermochemical cycle for decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen. They claim that their process will emit zero greenhouse gas.
        A project manager at S.C. said, “This is a potentially high-impact project that couples the benefits of molten salt reactors with the development of an advanced water-splitting process for hydrogen generation.”
       The CEO of TE said, "By combining forces with an energy leader such as Southern Company, we can bring this revolutionary technology to industrial markets. Using an IMSR power plant to produce hydrogen more efficiently and economically is just one of many industrial applications of IMSR power plants beyond electricity generation. Removing carbon from the production of hydrogen helps bring deep decarbonization into reach. It points the way to the production of carbon-neutral transport fuels and zero-emissions fertilizers."