‘The new generation of nuclear energy is as clean as solar, wind and hydro’

Authored by telegraph.co.uk and submitted by FreedomBoners

Moltex Energy says its stable salt reactors are the future. But what is the evidence?

A new generation of nuclear power plant that can be used alongside renewable energy sources will help the fight against climate change. So says Moltex Energy, based in the UK and with offices in the USA and in Canada, which is confident its stable salt reactors will be adopted by governments across the world as they invest in safe and clean energy.

The company is on course for its first contract to license and construct a stable salt reactor in Canada’s east-coast province of New Brunswick. It was one of two solutions selected from more than 90 applications by NB Power.

“Canada is putting nuclear power at the front of its strategy to reduce emissions and the reactor will be operational as early as 2030,” says Moltex Energy’s business development director Simon Newton. “We expect to see a lot more interest in the technology as we move through the various build phases.”

Our vision has always been to reduce the cost of clean energy for the whole world by eliminating the need for fossil fuels Simon Newton

Moltex Energy was founded in 2014 by its chairman and chief scientist Ian Scott, who questioned why other forms of fission were being ignored at a time when nuclear energy was becoming ever more expensive. His hunt for cheaper and simpler technology led him to molten salt reactors, which were first developed in the USA in the 1960s. With these, heat is generated when nuclear fission takes place in tubes filled with molten salt fuel. The reactor being developed in Canada uses simpler engineering methods than traditional nuclear power stations, and will be fuelled by recycled waste from these conventional plants.

Newton says the climate emergency means governments around the world are under pressure to find new ways to decarbonise energy use in areas such as transport and heating, where demand for electricity is soaring. The challenge is to achieve this without hindering future economic development. “Our vision has always been to reduce the cost of clean energy for the whole world by eliminating the need for fossil fuels,” he says. “It is a question of economics. If we can make nuclear power cheap enough, decarbonisation will follow as a natural consequence.”

The technology is generating plenty of interest – but the company must still overcome the perception among some of the public, politicians and potential investors that nuclear energy is unsafe. “People still think it is dangerous and expensive and they talk about the Chernobyl accident of 1986. We need to keep educating people – because nuclear energy generates zero greenhouse gas emissions during generation, and very few over its entire lifecycle. It is as clean as renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro, but it has the added advantage of being able to operate 24/7. Clean energy means lower carbon emissions and is a huge part of the fight against climate change.”

Renewable energy cannot meet the climate change challenge alone – we need other low-cost, reliable sources Simon Newton

Indeed, the company is winning support because its technology can be used alongside renewable energy sources such as wind power. The plant can store energy to deliver to the grid when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. “Our view is that governments should back all technologies that could contribute to cutting emissions. Because renewable energy cannot meet the climate change challenge alone – we need other low-cost, reliable sources.”

The business is now looking to generate significant funding from international governments and private investors to develop its technology globally. “As a start-up, we even raised £2.5m from a crowdfunding initiative, which demonstrated there is a great deal of public support for what we are doing,” says Newton.

Moltex Energy is certainly ambitious – but it is firmly focused at the moment on completing its first plant in Canada. It has recruited leading scientists and engineers from around the world for the project, which will become its shop window for promoting the technology to future customers. It eventually hopes to build stable salt reactors around the world – including the USA, western Europe and Japan. “Demand for electricity is expected to more than triple by 2050, and the measure of our success will be how we make a difference to reducing carbon emissions globally. We have to think big.”

At a time when few companies worldwide are developing completely new ways of producing energy, this is one company not afraid to innovate for future growth.

We interviewed Simon Newton and Ian Scott of Moltex Energy as part of the Great British Business campaign, which is putting a spotlight on some of the world’s most promising business ideas. Look out for more insights from top entrepreneurs in the coming weeks.

ThereOnceWasADonkey on October 30th, 2020 at 21:44 UTC »

I'm sure there will be some apolitical discussion, free of bias and uncluttered by propaganda in this thread. /s

s73v3b on October 30th, 2020 at 19:00 UTC »

This article is sponsored. This is basically an ad. I would like all of this to be true, but unfortunately I am not taking ads as a valid source of information.

Infernalism on October 30th, 2020 at 18:52 UTC »

“Canada is putting nuclear power at the front of its strategy to reduce emissions and the reactor will be operational as early as 2030,”

These sorts of things are always and have always 5-10 years away. They just need a few billion dollars and a decade to put them into action.

With that firmly in mind, imagine where we'll be with SWB tech in ten years' time.