Canadian-German nuclear technology company Dual Fluid Energy Inc. has just signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Canadian research center Tri-University Meson Facility (TRIUMF) at the University of British Columbia to advance development of a small modular reactor based on Dual Fluid Energy technology. Dual Fluid Energy said, “The goal of the new reactor concept is to use processed nuclear waste as fuel, and to exponentially increase the performance of today’s nuclear power production technologies.”
     As part of the MoU, Dual Fluid Energy and TRIUMF will focus on materials research to address several challenges inherent to nuclear power. These include the identification of materials that can withstand the high demands in the reactor core, which operates at temperatures in excess of eighteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit and produces highly radioactive and corrosive conditions.
     This research will leverage TRIUMF’s materials irradiation facilities which are known as the Proton and Neutron Irradiation Facilities and their metallurgical testing capabilities. Collaboration is also planned for detector development and reactor core imaging.
     TRIUMP is located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a national center owned and operated as a joint venture by a consortium of universities. They also receive funding from the National Research Council of Canada.
      Ahmed Hussein is the chief research officer at Dual Fluid Energy. He said, “The collaboration with TRIUMF is a major milestone for us, as the planned material testing is crucial for further development. Given TRIUMF’s expertise, we cannot imagine a better partner.”
     Kathryn Hayashi is the chief executive officer of TRIUMF innovations which is the commercialization arm of TRIUMF. She said, “TRIUMF is very pleased to be engaging with Dual Fluid on this exciting project. The world is looking increasingly to nuclear power as a major opportunity for energy generation, and TRIUMF is uniquely poised to advance these technologies through materials characterization at our leading-edge facilities and with support from our wide-reaching international network of subatomic physics research expertise. Our agreement with Dual Fluid also spotlights the strategic advantages that TRIUMF can enable for scientific collaborations between Canada and countries around the world.”
     Dual Fluid Energy’s compact reactor design features two loops consisting of a fuel loop and a coolant loop. The reactor uses a liquid fuel comprising thorium, natural uranium and processed nuclear waste. Liquid lead is used as a coolant. The reactor is designed to operate with a fuel change interval of about twenty-five years. It can be used to generate electricity and/or heat for the production of hydrogen. The company says that the operating temperature of eighteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit allows new heat applications. The reactor comes in two sizes. The DF300 will have a capacity of three hundred megawatts and the DF1500 has a capacity of fifteen hundred megawatts.
     Dual Fluid Energy Inc. was incorporated as a public company in Vancouver, Canada in January of 2021 to bring Dual Fluid Energy technology to serial production status. Construction of a prototype of a Dual Fluid Energy reactor is scheduled to begin in this decade. Serial production will begin around 2034.