"Even though the current reactor does serve to demonstrate many key aspects of the process at scale, I do wonder why they didn't just go for an inductive heating system at the outset. Why have they spent so much time and money on a reactor, which clearly can't be scaled up?"
This was the intention at the outset of the CDP (must've been 2019 or so), but their prototype failed. To fill a gap, I suppose, they went for larger version of the Kwinana pilot's externally heated reactor. COVID struck and the China debacle happened, and what a saga that ended up being.
Towards the end of that period, a bright spark in the team found an optimal material for the internally-heated design, which became the basis for the MK2 reactor and 2,500tpa Canada prototype. Both are well advanced, so it won't be too long till we find out how this scales up.
HZR Price at posting:
32.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)