an overview of the integral molten salt reactor 1 © terrestrial energy inc. 2016 the future of...

1

1

© Terrestrial Energy Inc. 2016

THE FUTURE OF ENERGY IS IMSR

Presentation to IAEA MSR Workshop

1st Nov 2016

An Overview of the

Integral Molten Salt Reactor

Dave Hill (Terrestrial Energy) will chime in on the development of his companies small modular nuclear reactor, and the possible market for producing zero-emissions hydrogen.

2

2



DISCLAIMER

• This presentation may contain “forward-looking information” as such term is defined under applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that is based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action and may include future-oriented financial information (“FOFI”) and information presented in the form of a “financial outlook” with respect to prospective results of operations, financial position or cash flows that is presented either as a forecast or a projection.

•

• Investors are advised that forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations as expressed or implied within this presentation. Forward-looking information reflects current expectations with respect to current events and is not a guarantee of future performance. Any forward-looking information that may be included or incorporated by reference in this presentation, including any FOFI or a “financial outlook”, is presented solely for the purpose of conveying the current anticipated expectations of management and may not be appropriate for any other purposes. Investors are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking information and are advised that the company is not under any obligation to update such information, other than as may be required under applicable securities laws and/or as agreed to in contract.

3

3



INTRODUCTION TO TERRESTRIAL ENERGY

• Terrestrial Energy

• Commercializing an Advanced Nuclear technology that can compete with fossils fuels combustion and “change the game”

• Technology – next generation Molten Salt Reactor (“MSR”)

• High technology readiness for market deployment in the 2020s

• Completing basic/preliminary engineering work

- TEI’s Canadian siting project: first commercial IMSR™ power plant (400 MWth reactor) at a site in Canada in the 2020s

• Commenced Phase I of CNSC VDR

- TEUSA’s US siting project: first commercial IMSR™ power plant (400 MWth reactor) at a site in US in the 2020s

• Invited to submit Part II DOE loan guarantee application

• Idaho National Laboratory, ID, USA is a lead candidate site

• Terrestrial Energy is a leading advanced reactor developer in a fast developing cleantech sector

4

4



RECENT MILESTONES

1Q 2016

Commenced regulatory engagement - signed CNSC Service Agreement for IMSR™ Vendor

Design Review

Awarded $5.7mn cleantech grant by SDTC Canadian Federal Government

April 2016 Formed Corporate Industrial Advisory Board with senior executives from ENW, OPG, PSEG,

Southern Company

June 2016 Terrestrial Energy USA Ltd (TEUSA) awarded GAIN grant from United States Department of

Energy

August 2016 $22.5mn funding milestone reached on completion of $5.3mn Series 2 Preferred

Investment Round

September 2016

TEUSA receives invitation to submit Part II for a United States Department of Energy $800

Mn to $1.2 Bn loan guarantee to support engineering, licensing and construction of first

U.S. IMSR power plant

5

5



TERRESTRIAL ENERGY’S CORPORATE INDUSTRIAL

ADVISORY BOARD • Power Utilities

• Duke Energy owns and operates six nuclear power stations in North Carolina and South Carolina, USA.

- Represented by John W. (Bill) Pitesa, Chief Nuclear Officer

• Energy Northwest operates the Columbia Generating Station, located in Richland, Washington, USA.

- Represented by Mark Reddemann, Chief Executive Officer

• NB Power owns and operates the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, New Brunswick, Canada.

- Represented by Gaëtan Thomas President and Chief Executive Officer

• Ontario Power Generation owns and operates the Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Power Stations in Ontario, Canada.

- Represented by Jeff Lyash, President and Chief Executive Officer

• PSEG Nuclear operates the Salem and Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Stations in Lower Alloways Creek, New Jersey, USA, and is a part owner of the Peach Bottom Nuclear generation station in Delta, Pennsylvania, USA.

- Represented by William Levis, PSEG Power, President and Chief Operating Officer

• Southern Nuclear Operating Company operates the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, USA, and the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley, Georgia, USA, and the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant near Dothan, Alabama, USA.

- Represented by Stephen Kuczynski, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

• Industrial

• Caterpillar is the leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.

- Represented by Dan Henderson – Director of Research and Advanced Engineering

6

6



TECHNOLOGY

7

7



ADVANTAGES OF MOLTEN SALT REACTORS

• Safety

• Enhanced ability for passive decay heat removal

• Inherent Stability from strong negative reactivity coefficients

• Low pressure and no chemical driving force

• Caesium and Iodine stable within the fuel salt

• Reduced Capital Cost

• Inherent safety can simplify entire facility

• Low pressure, high thermal efficiency, superior coolants (smaller pumps, heat exchangers). No complex refuelling mechanisms

• Long Lived Waste Issues

• Ideal system for consuming existing transuranic wastes

• Even MSR-Burner designs can “close” cycle for almost no transuranics going to waste

• Resource Sustainability and Low Fuel Cycle Cost

• Th-U233 thermal or U-Pu fast breeders obvious but MSR-Burners on LEU also very efficient on uranium use

8

8



THE 1970s SINGLE FLUID, GRAPHITE MODERATED

MOLTEN SALT BREEDER REACTOR (MSBR) – 1000 MWe

9

9



CHALLENGES OF 1970’S MSR-BREEDER DESIGN

• Online Fission Product Removal

• Tritium Control

• Reactivity Temperature Coefficients (only weakly negative)

• Use of Highly Enriched Uranium

• Long Term Corrosion or Radiation Damage

• Graphite Replacement Operations

10

10



ARE BREEDERS NEEDED NOW?

• Breeder approach is a needed long term goal and work should continue but world has immediate need of nuclear power replacing fossil fuel

• Uranium is quite abundant. Quoted “resources” are only what is confirmed by expensive drilling. More exploration equals more resources

• MSR-Burner approach of running of Low Enriched Uranium solves many challenges

• The last major work of ORNL in the late 1970s was a MSR-Burner, the Denatured Molten Salt Reactor (DMSR)

11

11



ISSUES SOLVED BY THE MSR-BURNER APPROACH

• Fission product removal

• No need for any salt processing

• Salts used as batches with periodic fuel additions

• Tritium Control

• Able to use non “FLiBe” carrier salts to curtail tritium production

• NaF, RbF, ZrF4 and KF among potential ingredients

• Reactivity Coefficients

• MSR-Burners have superior reactivity coefficients (solves positive graphite temperature coefficient seen in Th-U233 Breeder)

• Low Enriched Uranium Only

• Highly proliferation resistant as U always LEU (denatured), Pu at low concentration and poor isotopic blend. No blankets or fuel processing needed

• Unlike almost all advanced reactors, Startup and Makeup fuel can be 5% enrichment or lower (commercially pragmatic)

12

12



REMAINING CHALLENGES ARE MATERIALS RELATED

• Long Term Corrosion or Radiation Damage

• High Nickel alloys or even stainless steels perform superbly but proving a 30+ year lifetime a challenge for both reactor vessel and primary heat exchanger

• Use and Replacement of Graphite

• Unclad graphite use gives very strong advantages

• Very low enrichment fuel (~2% enriched LEU)

• Makes Out of Core Criticality virtually impossible

• Protects vessel wall from high neutron flux

• Graphite’s lifetime however is directly related to power density

13

13



WHAT IS TERRESTRIAL ENERGY’S IMSR?

Integral Molten Salt Reactor • LEU fueled MSR-Burner design like the 1980 DMSR

• Integrates all primary systems into a sealed reactor vessel

• 7 year Core unit “Seal and Swap” approach to graphite lifetime

• Planned as 400 MWth (~ 192 MWe)

• 3.6 m wide Core-unit for eased transportability

• Alternate “Non-FLiBE” salt possible and new off gas system

• New passive decay heat removal in situ without dump tanks

• Safety at forefront which leads to cost innovation

14

14



SCHEMATIC VIEW OF IMSR POWER TRAIN

15

15



IMSR SINGLE UNIT, TWIN SILOS FOR SWITCHLOADING

16

16



IMSR OVERALL FACILITY LAYOUT

Reactor Auxiliary Building

Cooling Towers

Turbine Building

Steam Generators

Grid Connect Yard Control Building

Fuel oil and water tanks

17

17



IMSR™ NPP CONSISTS OF NUCLEAR ISLAND AND

BALANCE-OF-PLANT

Nuclear Island

Balance-of-Plant

IMSR™ Nuclear Island produces 600oC industrial heat. Balance-of-Plant can be a broad range of industrial applications – not just power provision

18

18



IN-SITU DECAY HEAT REMOVAL – NEW INNOVATION

• Freeze Valve and Dump Tank the “traditional” approach

• Results in unwanted lower penetrations and regulator likely to assume failure to drain is possible

• IMSR approach has long been in-situ decay heat removal

• Convection and natural circulation brings decay heat to vessel wall

• Radiant transfer to Guard Vessel (Guard=Containment)

• 700 C surface 9x radiant heat compared to 300 C

• From there, water jacket options or PRISM like RVACS

• Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling System

19

19



PRISM RVACS Well Studied and Accepted

20

20



DRAWBACKS OF RVACS DESIGN FOR MSR USE

• Drawbacks of RVACS include the potential activation of passing air to Argon41 (110 min half life)

• Significant neutron shielding required to bring Ar41 rates to acceptable (and what level is publically acceptable?)

• As well, any remote possibility of breach of containment (Guard Vessel) means a relatively direct pathway for radionuclides

21

21



TERRETRIAL ENERGY’S NEW “IRVACS”

• IMSR utilizes a new innovative concept, proving extremely robust

• Basic concept is a closed cycle innovation of RVACS that retains a further barrier to the outside world

• New “Internal” RVACS or IRVACS moves heat by a closed cycle flow of nitrogen to a false roof acting as a large heat exchanger above the structural roof

• “Fails Better” If roof penetrated, outside air improves performance

• Modeling (including 140 million mesh CFD) showing excellent behaviour for even most severe accident scenarios of losing all secondary heat transfer

22

22



IRVACS

23

23



IRVACS

24

24



CHALLENGES SOLVED WITH IMSR

• “Sealed for life” offers enormous regulatory advantages to accelerate development

• Spent vessel is now intermediate storage of graphite

• Airborne release risk during graphite replacement eliminated

• Long cool down time before moving unit

• Material lifetime and corrosion issues greatly eased

• Good fuel economy on Once Through

• Future recycling to “close” fuel cycle and improve fuel economy commercially attractive

• Offers obvious “razor blade” analogy of continuous sales to attract industrial partners

25

25



CONTACT DETAILS

David LeBlanc Ph. D. Chief Technology Officer

Terrestrial Energy Inc. 2275 Upper Middle Rd East, Suite 102

Oakville ON L6H 0C3 CANADA

T: +1(905) 766-3770 E: [email protected]

www.TerrestrialEnergy.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.TerrestrialEnergy.com

an overview of the integral molten salt reactor 1 © terrestrial energy inc. 2016 the future of...

Documents