Economics of Molten Salt Nuclear Reactors

Progress in Nuclear Energy. Volume 129, November 202. Economics and Finance of Molten Salt Reactors

Moir and other previous analysis reaches the following two main results:
– LCOE of a 1000 MWe MSR (20% enriched): $36.5/MWh;
– LCOE of a 1000 MWe MSR is 7% lower than an equal size PWR and 9% lower than an equal size coal plant.

However, the analysis does not consider the impact on the cost of several items such as safety, licensing, and environmental standard.

Terrestrial Energy's 195 MWe IMSR uses graphite as moderator and molten salts as coolant. Terrestrial Energy's IMSR is envisaged to adopt modular construction. The 195 MWe IMSR power plant plan is for 4 year construction timeline and an upfront investment of less than $1 Billion. IMSRs could dispatch power at under $50/MWh.

The ThorCon is a 250 MWe scaled-up version of the Oak Ridge MSR Experiment which will use graphite as moderator and a mixture of sodium and beryllium fluoride salts as coolant. Thorcon NPP drawing presents two 250 MWe power modules. They estimation $800–1000/kWe and an electricity generation cost of $30/MWh for a 500 MWe ThorCon NPP. This would drop significantly with a mass production system using shipyards for construction.