Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)

Terrestrial Energy of Oakville, Ontario has recently received a major award from Sustainable Developmentx000D
Technology Canada, allowing it to proceed with the development of its promising novel nuclear reactor design,x000D
the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR). This reactor has a number of features which places it well in thex000D
current global electricity market, from the perspectives of cost, size, maintainability and safety.x000D
One of the outstanding features of this reactor design is its inherent safety. As the nuclear fuel is dissolved inx000D
molten salts, there is no possibility for a core meltdown. Also, by design, the reactor has a negative reactivityx000D
coefficient of temperature. This means that an inherent feedback mechanism will shut down the chain reactionx000D
in the core when the temperature of the core rises, as may happen under hypothetical accident conditions.x000D
The reactivity coefficient of temperature is a consequence of the nuclear-physics processes that take place inx000D
the core and govern the creation and absorption of neutrons in the chain reaction. It is a relatively small effectx000D
arising from the difference of competing effects, which for the IMSR was determined to be negative over thex000D
lifetime of the reactor.x000D
The study proposed here will determine the uncertainty in the value of the reactivity coefficient of temperaturex000D
for the IMSR, which is essential to establish the margin of safety for reactor operation over its lifetime. Thex000D
study will use state-of-the-art modelling tools developed internationally for nuclear safety analysis. In additionx000D
to calculations for the proposed fuel composition, the study will also be applied to a number of alternate fuelx000D
compositions.x000D
The study proposed here is an essential contribution to demonstrating the inherent safety features of the design.