Natura MSR-1: The first molten salt nuclear reactor ever licensed by US NRC

Good news! We need a lot more nuclear power! Unfortunately, this is only a research reactor of a university!

"A molten salt reactor (MSR) is a type of nuclear reactor that uses a molten salt mixture as a coolant and/or fuel. MSRs are considered a promising advanced reactor technology due to their safety and efficiency advantages." (Google search)

"The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted Abilene Christian University (ACU) the construction permit for an advanced nuclear reactor called the Natura MSR-1.

This is the first liquid salt-fueled reactor ever licensed by the NRC and the first university research reactor approved in the US in over 30 years. ...

Natura Resources brought together ACU’s NEXT Lab with Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin and Georgia Institute of Technology to form the Natura Resources Research Alliance to license and deploy the MSRR, which will be located at ACU’s Dillard Science and Engineering Research Center, the nation’s first advanced reactor demonstration facility outside of a national lab. ..."

Natura MSR-1: 1st molten salt nuclear reactor ever licensed by US NRC "The new technology aims to meet global demands for energy, medical isotopes, and clean water using molten salt reactors."

NRC issues construction permit for Natura Resources molten salt reactor at ACU

Credits: Human Progress weekly newsletter

A cutaway of the MSR-1 research reactor (Image: Natura Resources) (Source)

Want cheaper nuclear energy? Turn the design process into a game

Recommendable! More nuclear power is a very rational and common sense solution to meet world energy demands and reduce carbon emissions!

"... Researchers at MIT and Exelon show that by turning the design process into a game, an AI system can be trained to generate dozens of optimal configurations that can make each rod last about 5 percent longer, saving a typical power plant an estimated $3 million a year, the researchers report. The AI system can also find optimal solutions faster than a human, and quickly modify designs in a safe, simulated environment. ...
Exelon is now testing a beta version of the AI system in a virtual environment that mimics an assembly within a boiling water reactor, and about 200 assemblies within a pressurized water reactor, which is globally the most common type of reactor. Based in Chicago, Illinois, Exelon owns and operates 21 nuclear reactors across the United States. It could be ready to implement the system in a year or two, a company spokesperson says."

"... The methodology is applied on two boiling water reactor assemblies of low-dimensional ( combinations) and high-dimensional ( combinations) natures. The results demonstrate that RL is more effective than SO [stochastic optimization] in solving high dimensional problems, i.e., 10 × 10 assembly, through embedding expert knowledge in form of game rules and effectively exploring the search space. ..."

Want cheaper nuclear energy? Turn the design process into a game | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Researchers show that deep reinforcement learning can be used to design more efficient nuclear reactors.

Here is the link to the respective research paper:

Physics-informed reinforcement learning optimization of nuclear assembly design