CHARLOTTE – Charlotte-headquartered Terrestrial Energy has won a $3 million grant from the United States Department of Energy, which will support the licensing and commercialization of the company’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor, IMSR.
The company calls the IMSR a “Generation IV nuclear power plant,” and the award will support the modeling and simulation for the off-gas systems in the plant.
“Advanced reactors will completely change the way we engineer, build, and operate nuclear reactors,” said Dr. Kathryn Huff, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, in a press release announcing the awards, which came on Nov. 18. “These awards support technical and regulatory strides necessary for commercializing new carbon-free nuclear technologies poised to help our nation reach net-zero emissions by 2050.”
Terrestrial Energy said in its statement that it is developing the power plant with plans for commercial deployment “in the late 2020s” for which it is in discussion with regulators in the United States and Canada. T
According to the company, the technology used by the IMSR power plant will yield an increase of 50% in the thermal efficiency of electric power generation compared to power plants that use conventional reactor technology.
One result, the company said, is the improvement of the economics of nuclear power generation “while preserving nuclear energy’s carbon-free and resiliency advantages over other energy sources,” the statement notes.
“We value this grant and the Department of Energy’s support as we work to license and commercialize the IMSR nuclear power plant in the United States,” said Simon Irish, Terrestrial Energy USA CEO, in the statement. “These grant programs support private companies as they work to deliver nuclear power technologies that can succeed in competitive global energy markets and deliver global net-zero goals.”
“Technologies such as our IMSR Generation IV nuclear plants will produce reliable, cost-competitive heat and power without emissions, making them uniquely capable of competing with fossil fuels,” said Irish.
