The other day I mentioned that the MOX plant at Savannah River was closed down, I said then that perhaps they had found a better way?
I was told then that the MOX plant at SRS was for using the Plutonium from weapons and that would exclude GLE, from being any part of it?
Well, that may have been the case if GLE had remained with GEH, but this isn't the case now is it?
GEH can do virtually what they want in the nuclear arena so long as the NRC agrees, GLE is no longer associated with GEH, this and the fact that keeping the Uranium bundle in the recovered Plutonium pile mixed for proliferation reasons may also have had some baring on GLE being no longer needed at GEH, it will allow GEH to use the Plutonium from weapons in a MOX fuel for an SMR like Natrium, GLE are no longer in the way of that happening.
https://news.utk.edu/2021/01/08/worth-their-weight-in-salt-molten-reactors-hold-huge-potential/Engineering & TechnologyWorth Their Weight in Salt, Molten Reactors Hold Huge PotentialView all the posts from January 8, 2021 Share on Twitter. Share on Facebook. 
Research Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering
Ondrej Chvala studies molten salt reactors (MSRs) with an eye for the future and also through the lens of history.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory pioneered MSR technology in the 1950s, and in late 1960s ran the first MSR with significant power generation in the world—the
Molten Salt Reactor Experiment—which proved that MSR is feasible.
The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, a US congressional committee that operated from 1946 to 1977, had the sole responsibility for overseeing legislation on nuclear power in the country. As a result of their decisions, the lightwater reactor design has prevailed over other nuclear reactor designs, including MSRs.
Now, with aging and decommissioning of lightwater reactors, MSRs are poised to make a comeback.
Ondrej Chvala
Chvala says that the effort to decarbonize energy production means that nuclear production needs to increase globally by roughly a factor of 100 to meet rising energy needs. Over the past five years, about 11,000 additional people a week have been connected to electricity.
This new clean energy needs to be competitive with fossil fuels without subsidies, since the developing world cannot afford to overpay for energy. Chvala believes that MSRs should play a role in providing this much-needed power.
MSRs, which use molten salt as liquid fuel and coolant, could be a major contributor to the nuclear energy sector with benefits including safety, efficiency, and flexibility in fuels and applications. However, Chvala says, there are still problems to solve and barriers to overcome.
“One of the barriers is the lack of knowledge of these systems because they are not taught in curriculum,” said Chvala. “The most powerful MSR that operated for the longest was quite a while ago, and one issue that nuclear power has, especially in the Western markets, is it is not competitive with fossil fuels. People have reasons to think that MSRs will be cheaper and more effective than coal; however, we do not know until we can build not just one but a whole fleet of reactors. Long-term experience will be necessary to judge economic competitiveness of any new reactor technology.”
The chemical stability of molten salts results in a large range of liquid temperature, between 700 and 1700 K (800–2600 F) at atmospheric pressure. This allows for thinner walls of pipes and other components of the reactor loops, improving operational safety and reducing cost.
Chvala says the liquid nature of the fuel presents advantages for safeguards.
“In MSRs, the fuel is homogenized as it is pumped around the primary circuit,” he said. “So if you take a tiny sample of the fuel, it is representative of the entire core; this is impossible in solid fuel systems.”
MSRs can be fueled with comparative ease using nuclear waste from weapons and other reactors due to liquid nature of the fuel, which simplifies fuel manufacturing and burning the fuel up over time.And with higher operating temperatures, MSRs can utilize air cooling efficiently, so reactors do not need to be located near a large body of water like coal plants or lightwater reactors.Overall, the relative simplicity of their design and operation makes MSRs a potentially cost-effective resource for meeting the world’s growing energy demand.
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