CANADA'S DOUBLE NUCLEAR SMR

WNN - 15 September 2021 - Prospective small reactor vendor Terrestrial Energy has announced that its IMSR400 reactor unit will be built in pairs. The move is a response to utility requirements and will increase cost competitiveness, the Canadian company said.

The IMSR400 is a molten salt reactor with integrated components that can to supply heat directly to industrial facilities or use it to generate up to 195 MW of electrical power. The decision that these will be built in pairs will result in an upgraded overall power plant design with a potential output of up to 390 MWe, it said.

Terrestrial Energy is one of three vendors selected by Canadian utility OPG for support to advance engineering and design work. OPG is expected to make a final technology decision this year and proceed to the construction and then operation of a small reactor at the Darlington nuclear power plant in the late 2020s. The other vendors are GE-Hitachi, with its 300 MWe BWRX-300 design, and X-energy, with its 320 MWe Xe-100 four-unit SMR design.

In January 2019, Terrestrial notified the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of its intention to seek US design approval for the IMSR400, and in December 2019 the CNSC and the NRC selected IMSR400 for the first joint technical review of an advanced reactor which does not use water as coolant. Last month Terrestrial concluded a deal with Westinghouse and the UK National Nuclear Laboratory to develop and supply fuel for IMSR400.

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