MSR Review

MSR Review
been addressed by increasing construction costs, both in time and money, to meet rising safety
requirements. They are now the safest technology in the energy sector but the outcome is
electricity generated at prices greater than with fossil fuels and widely perceived as unaffordable.
Opportunities
The listing of the six Gen IV options gives an indication of a range of possibilities that provide
options for the next reactor generation. Liquid-fuelled reactors – the subject of this study – are
seen to provide more benefits than others (see Section 5, MSR Benefits for further discussion on
this). With immediate and decisive commitment tangible achievement in a five-year time-span
could be realised.
As this study reveals there are several small scale developers for liquid fuelled molten salt reactors.
Six of these have undergone technical review by the study team. Unlike the Gen IV liquid fuelled
reactor selected as the reference design – the Euratom molten salt fast reactor project based at
Grenoble - each of the reactors included in this study are technically ready to take the next step
towards industrial implementation. This immediate next step is to complete engineering design
work for a prototype or pilot-scale reactor. What stops this happening right now is the high cost
of any radioactive device.
Barriers to entry of new technologies have become extremely high as an unintended consequence
of the complex regulatory system that has been made necessary by the need to assure the
safety of intrinsically hazardous nuclear reactors, such as the Pressurised Water Reactor. This
high barrier favours the incumbent technologies and creates a technology “lock in” situation.
Speculative investment involved in commissioning a single new MSR reactor project is reckoned
in the hundreds of millions of pounds. A realistic assessment indicates this happening when and if
Government makes a robust commitment to a significant role in providing funding. The probable
reward for UK industry and the public is very large, and the cost to the taxpayer affordable.
Elsewhere in this report the Moltex Stable Salt Reactor is selected as providing the basis for a UK
programme for development. A likely sequence of events is provided below, the time-line being
dependent on financial and regulatory commitment. The evaluation in this report is comparable
with the evaluation of other MSR proposals reviewed.
The programme for this first-of-a-kind reactor project includes:
Raising capital to fund the development
Identifying a site
Progressing design
Developing safety cases
Engaging with the regulator in the design process
Carrying out any required validation experiments
Finalising design
Obtaining all permits and licences
Build and commision
Energy Process Developments Ltd. 10