Project – ThorCon
Indonesia ThorCon 3.5 GW fission power project
The plan for introducing liquid fission power to Indonesia has two parts.
Phase 1 is to build and test a 500 MW ThorCon, with step by step commissioning, ending in an approved type license for future power plants.
Phase 2 is shipyard production of ThorCons to help Indonesia’s utility company provide an additional 3 GW of cheap, reliable electric power to support economic development.
Design, pre-fission testing, ThorCon build/test, 3.5 GW commercial production
Design. Much of the design phase has been completed, computationally modeled, expressed in 2D drawings and 3D CAD models, and shared with potential suppliers. Suppliers’ cost estimates for future production versions are compatible with company estimates of electricity production costs of 3 cents/kWh prior to profits and government fees.
Pre-fission construction. The company will build a pre-fission test facility (PTF) at full scale, including the components of the fission island and the thermal power conversion chain. The fuel salt will not contain enriched uranium and will not sustain a chain reaction to generate power. The components will be brought up to operating temperatures using electric heating. The absence of radioactivity allows intrusive instrumentation, direct observation, and internal access to components.
Pre-fission testing. Extensive testing will include operating pumps at full temperatures and pressures, freeze valve drains to drain tanks, actuation of shutdown rods, and instrumentation. Engineers will measure thermal expansion, confirm heat transfer rates, verify thermal hydraulics characteristics, test sensors, transfer molten salts between the Pot and fuel casks. System responses to simulated failures will be monitored closely.
Full scale ThorCon reactor Pot, in Can, in cold wall, all 3 molten salt loops, dry cooler.
ThorCon construction. The 500 MW power plant will be built in a world-class shipyard experienced in high-quality, cost-competitive steel-working. ThorCon will rely on the yard for detailed design outside the Can, production scheduling, and much of the equipment purchasing functions. The shipyard will be ThorCon’s EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contractor. The expensive, massive, precision supercritical steam turbine-generator must be pre-ordered to achieve the one-year shipyard build time. ThorCon will be towed to the Indonesia near-shore site prepared with breakwaters and seawater cooling piping and a connection to the PLN electric power grid.
Power up. The testing protocols developed with the PTF will first guide similar pre-fission testing of ThorCon. Working closely with Indonesia’s nuclear regulator (Bapeten) and expert test approvals committee (TAP), ThorCon engineers will proceed with step by step commissioning, fueling the plant, bringing the reactor to zero-power criticality, then increasing power levels as testing confirms safe, effective power generation.
Stress tests. ThorCon is designed to react safely to many operational events and failures. Demonstrating safety is important to public acceptance of fission power. Test examples include sudden loss of load, overheating the fuelsalt, losing all water in the cooling pond, and failure of shutdown rods. These tests are possible because of multiple layers of defense in the design. The TAP must pre-approve all such tests, continuing the step by step commissioning process.
Production. When testing is successfully completed, the company expects Indonesia’s Bapeten regulator to refine its regulations and issue a type license citing the design is safe for similar future power plants. Indonesia’s PLN will sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the company, which will build, install, and operate 3 GW of additional ThorCon power plants. The PPA will enable financing with traditional loans. As these plants are put into operation the company expects world-wide orders for such shipyard-constructed power plants that deliver nonstop electric energy cheaper than coal.
Two 500 MW ThorCon shoreside power plants supplying the power grid.
What is ThorCon? ThorCon is a molten salt fission reactor. Unlike all current nuclear reactors, the fuel is in liquid form. It can be moved around with a pump and passively drained. This 500 MW fission power plant is encapsulated in a hull, built in a shipyard, towed to a shallow water site, ballasted to the seabed. Visit Design.
Ready to Go. ThorCon requires no new technology. ThorCon is a straightforward scale-up of the successful United States Oak Ridge National Laboratory Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). A full-scale 500 MW ThorCon prototype can be operating under test within four years. After proving the plant safely handles multiple potential failures and problems, commercial power plant production can begin. Visit MSRE.
Cheaper than Coal. A ThorCon plant requires less of the planet’s resources than a coal plant. Assuming efficient, evidence based regulation, ThorCon can produce clean, reliable, CO2-free electricity at 3 cents per kilowatt-hour — cheaper than coal. Visit Economics.
Rapidly Deployable. The complete ThorCon is manufactured in 150 to 500 ton blocks in a shipyard, assembled, then towed to the site. This produces order of magnitude improvements in productivity, quality control, and build time. A single large reactor yard can turn out twenty gigawatts of ThorCon power plants per year. ThorCon is a system for building power plants. Visit Production.
Fixable. Everything in the fission island except the structure itself is replaceable with little interruption in power output. Every four years the entire primary loop is changed out, returned to a centralized recycling facility, decontaminated, disassembled, inspected, and refurbished. Incipient problems are caught before they can turn into casualties. Upgrades can be introduced without significantly disrupting power generation. Visit Fuel.
Walkaway Safe. ThorCon fuel is in liquid form. If the reactor overheats for whatever reason, ThorCon will shut itself down, and passively handle the decay heat. No power, no machinery, no operator action is required. This is built into the reactor physics. The operators can do nothing to prevent safe shutdown and cooling. ThorCon has at least three gas tight barriers between the fuelsalt and the atmosphere. The reactor operates at garden hose pressure. In the event of a primary loop rupture, there is no dispersal energy and no phase change. The spilled fuel merely flows to a drain tank where it is passively cooled. The most troublesome fission products, including Sr-90 and Cs-137, are chemically bound to the salt. They will end up in the drain tank as well. Visit Safety.
Indonesia project. ThorCon has been working with the Indonesian government to add reliable electric power to the grid. In 2019 the Ministry of Energy successfully completed a study of the safety, economics, and grid impact of the 500 MW prototype ThorConIsle. Phase 1 is to build and test it with step by step commissioning, ending in a type license for future power plants. Phase 2 is shipyard production of ThorCon plants to provide an additional 3 GW of cheap, reliable electric power. Visit Project.
Global impact. Powering up our world with ThorCon can impact developing nations’ prosperity while rescuing our environment. Visit Impact.
— Read on thorconpower.com/project/
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