Add new comment

Part 2 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
    Moltex has a customer for its first operational SSR. NB Power is a Canadian electric utility which intends to put a Moltex SSR into operation by 2030. It has been claimed that nuclear power generates no carbon dioxide. This is true for operation but not true for mining and refining fuel as well as constructing the nuclear reactor. NB has decided that Gen IV reactors should be a part of its move to green power. It has selected both a Moltex SSR and an SSR from ARC Nuclear Canada for deployment. Brett Plummer is the chief nuclear officer for NB Power. He says, “I believe that we need nuclear energy with renewables to decarbonize the earth.” Plummer praises Gen IV reactors for their inherent safety features and their ability to burn nuclear waste. He says, “The more we discuss the advantages of these reactors, the more acceptance we get.”
     Plummer says, “We're about 75% non-emitting right now in the province of New Brunswick, and we would like to meet our goal to be completely non-emitting by 2030/2040. We're looking at nuclear technology to fill that gap from a safe, reliable, cost-effective, clean energy source that can integrate with renewables.”
     NB currently provides electricity for about four hundred customers. Their power is generated by conventional water-cooled nuclear power reactors, hydroelectric plants and fossil fuel plants. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm of Moltex and NB power for SSRs is not shared by many in the nuclear power industry.
     Many anti-nuclear activists oppose the development of SSRs because they oppose all nuclear power generation. In addition, there are major technical challenges that may impede the wide adoption of SSRs. One of the big concerns is that SSRs are unproven technology when compared to conventional water-cooled power reactors which have been generating power for over sixty years. This is one of the reasons that Moltex turned to crowdfunding to raise the money that they need to continue development of SSRs. Moltex is attempting to get an early design state approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
    There have been designs for MSR Gen IVs floating around for sixty years. They have not been adopted due to a lack of money and political support as the water-cooled conventional reactors caught on commercially. The first MSR which is the basis for the SSR design was designed and constructed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is the 1950s and 1960s. MSR research was carried on parallel to the water-cooled reactors that came to dominate the nuclear power market place during the Nixon administration. The water-cooled reactors won out because they produce plutonium that can be extracted for the purpose of making nuclear weapons which was highly desirable at the height of the Cold War.
      It is estimated that about one and a quarter billion dollars will be required to build the Moltex reactor. It is also possible that the cost will be a lot higher. Moltex will eventually look for more conventional means of obtaining funds such as equity funds. The problem is that Moltex needs to have money come in stages. Currently it has a continuing requirement for money to fund the complex, time consuming and rigorous process that is necessary in order to receive regulatory approval of the reactor design from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
Please read Part 3