Terrestrial Energy is a nuclear technology company working on
Generation IV nuclear technology
Nuclear technology is technology that involves the nuclear reactions of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei. Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear reactors, nuclear medicine and nuclear weapons. It is also used, among other things, in s ...
.
It expects its nuclear plant to produce cost-competitive, high-temperature thermal energy with zero emissions.
The company is developing a 2x195 MWe
Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) plant design. The
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC; ) is the federal regulator of nuclear power and materials in Canada.
Mandate and history
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was established under the 1997 '' Nuclear Safety and Control Act'' with a ma ...
completed its programmatic Pre-Licensing Vendor Design Review of the IMSR plant design successfully in 2023.
The IMSR uses molten salt reactor technology and is one example of a
small modular reactor
The small modular reactor (SMR) is a class of small nuclear fission reactor, designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation, and then used to power buildings or other commercial operations. The term SMR refers t ...
(SMR) characteristic of
Generation IV nuclear reactor designs.
History
Terrestrial Energy announced plans to go public in March 2025 via special purpose acquisition company HCM II Acquisition Corp.
Terrestrial Energy and The Texas A&M University System announced plans in February 2025 to site an IMSR plant at the Texas A&M-RELLIS campus about 9 miles west of Texas A&M University in College Station.
The company announced an agreement with Energy''Solutions'' in December 2024 to explore possible siting of IMSR plants at Energy''Solutions''-owned sites. In October 2024, Terrestrial Energy signed an agreement with Viaro Energy to develop an IMSR plant in the United Kingdom.
Design
Terrestrial Energy claims several principal advantages for the IMSR over legacy nuclear power plants. It claims that its 585 degrees Celsius high-temperature heat supply enables a nearly 50% improvement on electricity generating efficiency with a steam Rankine cycle, compared to a similarly sized plant using
LWR technology. As a consequence of its modular design, the power plant construction time is expected to be shortened to four years, versus 8-12 for legacy designs.
The Terrestrial Energy IMSR plant is designed to generate either electricity or industrial steam. The basic IMSR cogeneration plant design uses two reactors to generate just under 400 MW of electricity (net) or just over 800 MW of thermal energy, or a customized mix of the two.
The reactor uses molten salt/uranium blend as both fuel and coolant,
the signature characteristic of
molten salt reactor
A molten-salt reactor (MSR) is a class of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant and/or the fuel is a mixture of molten salt with a fissile material.
Two research MSRs operated in the United States in the mid-20th ...
technology.
Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR is one of the very few Generation IV nuclear plant designs that uses standard-assay low-enriched uranium fuel rather than high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel and claims to leverage proven technologies in a unique way. Terrestrial Energy says that this is intended to reduce licensing and timeline risks that have slowed the adoption of other approaches.
References
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External links
Terrestrial Energy , Leading the Way to a Bright Energy Future , 4th Generation Nuclear PowerOfficial website
Nuclear technology companies of the United States