Even before the Fukushima power plant disaster in 2001 people have been rather weary about nuclear power plants. The plants run at disconcertingly high temperatures and produce radioactive waste which can be harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly. Another issue with nuclear power has been the cost of building and running the plants due to the high safety precautions necessary to prevent disaster.
A Canadian company, Terrestrial Energy, has devised a new way to sue the same reactors in a much safer, efficient, and cleaner manner. The key to this is in the cooling process of the reactor which, as stated before, can reach exorbitantly high temperatures. Instead of cooling the reactors with a heat exchange system using water which must be pumped through the entire plant, this company has drafted designs that use molten salt instead. By using molten salt the energy wasted on pumping water can now be saved, the plant can operate at a higher temperature that burns more efficiently and saves fuel, and the fuel is much easier to recycle and use again in the plant.
The system works by transferring energy in the form of heat in the plant to the molten salt which causes molecules to expand and slows fission thus reducing the heat of the fuel. Furthermore, since the salt is rather viscus, if there were to be a rupture in the plant the salt would solidify, limiting the area that could be contaminated.
The use of nuclear technology is one that must be explored and advancements like these can easily justify why we should be implementing more advanced way to use it rather than abandoning it.
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