LOW-COST NUCLEAR
Low-cost, reliable, CO2-free electric power
CEO Matt Wilkinson Thorcon Overview
What is Thorcon? The Thorcon 500 is a molten salt fission reactor. Unlike all current nuclear reactors, the fuel is in liquid form. It can be moved around with a pump and passively drained. This 500 MW fission power plant is encapsulated in a hull, built in a shipyard, towed to a shallow water site, ballasted to the seabed. Visit Designs
Ready to Go. Thorcon requires no new technology. Thorcon has scaled up the successful United States Oak Ridge National Laboratory Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). A full-scale 500 MW Thorcon 500 prototype can be operating under test by 2029. After proving the plant safely handles multiple potential failures and problems, commercial power plant production can begin. Visit MSRE.
Cheaper than Coal. A Thorcon 500 plant requires less of the planet’s resources than a coal plant. Assuming efficient, evidence based regulation, a Thorcon 500 can produce clean, reliable, CO2-free electricity at low cost, less than from coal. Visit Economics
Rapidly Deployable. The complete Thorcon 500 is manufactured in 150 to 500 ton blocks in a shipyard, assembled, then towed to the site. This produces order of magnitude improvements in productivity, quality control, and build time. A single large reactor yard can turn out twenty gigawatts of Thorcon power plants per year. Thorcon has created a system for building power plants. Visit Production.
Fixable. Everything in the nuclear module except the structure itself is replaceable with little interruption in power output. Every eight years the entire nuclear module is swapped out, returned to a centralized recycling facility, decontaminated, disassembled, inspected, and refurbished. Incipient problems are caught before they can turn into casualties. Upgrades can be introduced without significantly disrupting power generation. Visit Fuel.
Walkaway Safe. Thoron 500 fuel is in liquid form. If the reactor overheats for whatever reason, the Thorcon 500 will shut itself down, and passively handle the decay heat. No power, no machinery, no operator action is required. This is built into the reactor physics. The operators can do nothing to prevent safe shutdown and cooling. The ThorCon 500 has at least three barriers between the fuelsalt and the atmosphere. The reactor operates at garden hose pressure. In the event of a primary loop rupture, there is no dispersal energy and no phase change. The spilled fuel merely flows to a fuelsalt catcher where it is passively cooled. The most troublesome fission products, including Sr-90 and Cs-137, are chemically bound to the salt. They will end up in the drain tank as well. Visit Safety.
Indonesia project. Thorcon has been working with the Indonesian government to add reliable electric power to the grid. In 2019 the Ministry of Energy successfully completed a study of the safety, economics, and grid impact of the 500 MW prototype Thorcon. Phase 1 is to build and test it with step by step commissioning by 2029, earning a type license for future power plants. Phase 2 is shipyard production of ThorCon 500 plants to provide an additional 3 GW of cheap, reliable electric power. Visit Project.
Global impact. Powering up our world with Thorcon can impact developing nations’ prosperity while rescuing our environment. Visit Impact.
