Thorizon and EDF R&D sign agreement to work on Molten Salt Reactor development
On May 16th the Dutch French start-up Thorizon and EDF R&D signed a cooperation agreement to advance the Thorizon One molten salt reactor design. EDF will challenge Thorizon’s neutronic core calculations and conduct scenario analyses to determine how the Thorizon One could help to close the fuel cycle in the European reactor fleet.
Thorizon will benefit from EDF's expertise as the French leader in electricity production, and in particular from the recognized skills of its R&D researchers. The Thorizon One will provide 100MW electricity (the equivalent of 250.000 households or a data centre) which can be varied between 50MW and 300MW depending on the demand. Specific about the Thorizon One is that the core of the reactor constitutes out of molten salt cartridges which are replaced every 5 to 10 years, and this way overcome two molten salt design obstacles: material corrosion and handling of used fuel volumes.
“R&D team covers all disciplines from neutronics and fuel to safety and construction. We are actively supporting several start-ups in the France 2030 program. The cartridge-based approach of Thorizon is interesting and promising.” says Bernard Salha from EDF.
“It is a pleasure to work with the EDF team which has more experience in nuclear than any company across the globe. Thanks to EDF R&D, start-ups like us benefit from access to unique industry experts that can very quickly spot the strengths and area of improvements in our design. We hope we can continue to work with the EDF R&D team on the realization of our technology in the future, we believe all solutions are needed to empower the energy transition and the Thorizon One can be a great compliment to the existing and planned nuclear fleet” adds Kiki Lauwers, CEO Thorizon.
About EDF
EDF Group is a key player in the energy transition, as an integrated energy operator engaged in all aspects of the energy business: power generation, distribution, trading, energy sales and energy services. The Group is a world leader in low-carbon energy, with a low carbon output of 434TWh, a diverse generation mix based mainly on nuclear and renewable energy (including hydropower). It is also investing in new technologies to support the energy transition. EDF’s raison d’être is to build a net zero energy future with electricity and innovative solutions and services, to help save the planet and drive well-being and economic development. The Group supplies energy and services to approximately 40.9 million customers (1) and generated consolidated sales of €139.7 billion in 2023.
About Thorizon
Thorizon has rapidly evolved from a spin-off of NRG (Dutch Nuclear Research Institute) into an ambitious deep-tech startup, with offices in Amsterdam and Lyon. The company views small modular nuclear reactors as an ideal, stable, and clean contributor to an energy system where wind and solar are the other important sources. The ambition is to develop a reactor based on molten salt that can be realized rapidly and smartly, is ’walk-away’ safe, and takes a first step towards circularity by using long-lived nuclear waste as a fuel source. Thorizon is working to further strengthen its financial position to be able to build a non-nuclear molten salt demonstrator in the short term and finalize the detailed design to start building a first-of-a-kind reactor by 2030: the Thorizon One. Thorizon partners with industry leaders like Orano, Tractebel and EDF to advance its design and is a laureate in the France 2030 program for advanced nuclear projects. For more information about Thorizon, you can visit www.thorizon.com.