Small modular reactor (SMR) company Terrestrial Energy Inc has signed a manufacturing and supply contract with Westinghouse subsidiary Springfields Fuels Limited for the design and construction of an Integral Molten Salt Reactor (ISMR) fuel pilot plant.
The agreement is based on a contract signed in August 2023 for the planning and design of an IMSR fuel supply. It will leverage the established deconversion and fuel manufacturing infrastructure at Westinghouse’s Springfields nuclear fuel manufacturing site in Preston in the UK. The contract has been expanded in scope to include a “wide range of commercial-scale fuel services” such as deconversion, fabrication, packaging and transportation. Terrestrial Energy said, “Upon completion of the pilot plant, the facility will be positioned to scale to commercial fuel production for a future fleet of IMSR Plants.”
Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR is a 4th generation nuclear reactor that uses molten salt as both fuel and coolant, with integrated components, which can provide heat directly to industrial facilities or use it to generate electrical power. It does this utilizing conventional nuclear reactor fuel which is standard assay low-enriched uranium (SALEU), enriched to under five percent uranium-235. The use of this conventional nuclear fuel aligns with Springfields’ “nearly eighty-year legacy as a global leader in the supply of SALEU as uranium oxide fuel to commercial nuclear power reactors”, the company said.
The company added, “Terrestrial Energy’s use of SALEU, the only commercially available reactor fuel on the market today, for IMSR plant operation shields the company from substantial supply challenges associated with the use of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium fuel (HALEU), which have been exacerbated by geopolitical tensions and the current lack of commercial-scale supply in the U.S. market. SALEU supply chains are supported by well-established international transport protocols and decades of regulatory acceptance, positioning Terrestrial Energy to pursue a practical and accelerated pathway to early commercial IMSR plant deployment.”
The company explained that the pilot plant design features a re-optimized chemical process to supply uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) which has been deconverted from uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at five percent enrichment. The current industry standard source for nuclear fuel is the deconversion of UF6 at five percent enrichment, supplied from enrichment plants, to uranium oxide fuel. Optimizing the process to deconvert to UF4 with the pilot plant design will enable the large volume of fuel supply required for IMSR fleet deployment by leveraging Springfields’ existing commercial scale infrastructure, the company said.
Simon Irish is the CEO of Terrestrial Energy. He said that the expanded partnership with Westinghouse at Springfields is a “strategic milestone” in Terrestrial Energy’s Western supply chain strategy as it commercializes its reactor technology. He continued, “With our SALEU fuel choice, we can maximize the use of existing nuclear industrial infrastructure at the Springfields site for capital efficiency. This collaboration enhances both our capital efficiency and scalability as we seek to meet the rapidly growing demand for clean, reliable, and flexible energy supply.”
Tarik Choho is the Westinghouse President of Nuclear Fuel. He said that his company has been working with Terrestrial Energy on this “transformative initiative” for more than four years. “This partnership brings together complementary strengths and opportunities, accelerating innovation and delivering important impacts to our industry.”