Saltfoss Signs KRW 3 Billion MSR Technology Contract with Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 4, Danish nuclear energy company Saltfoss Energy signed a molten salt reactor technical service contract worth approximately KRW 3 billion (approximately USD 2.26 million) with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Over the next two years, KAERI will conduct nuclear fuel manufacturing, fuel characterization evaluation, molten salt test loop construction, and corrosion testing of candidate structural materials for the fluoride molten salt reactor currently being developed by Saltfoss. Saltfoss previously operated under the name Seaborg and is currently advancing the development of the seaMSR-100 floating molten salt reactor.

Under the scope of the contract, KAERI will first pretreat the fluoride molten salt to meet nuclear fuel manufacturing requirements, then manufacture nuclear fuel using the treated molten salt and conduct characterization evaluation. The institute will also construct and operate a natural circulation molten salt test loop, driving molten salt circulation through temperature differences to simulate the molten salt flow environment inside the reactor, and evaluate the corrosion extent of candidate reactor structural materials under high-temperature molten salt conditions.

This contract adopts a research and development service model, in which KAERI provides technical services to Saltfoss utilizing its existing MSR technical capabilities, test facilities, and research infrastructure, without involving the transfer of ownership of the institute's existing molten salt reactor source technologies or intellectual property rights. The contract execution period is two years, with core work covering a continuous R&D chain from fuel salt pretreatment, fuel manufacturing and characterization, to molten salt circulation environment simulation and structural material validation.

The seaMSR-100 being developed by Saltfoss has a single-unit design output of 100 MWe or 250 MW of high-temperature thermal power. Under the current plan, multiple reactors can be integrated onto the same Saltfoss Power Platform floating platform to form configurations of 100–600 MWe or 250–1500 MW thermal power, and can also adopt combined heat and power arrangements. The reactor is designed to operate at approximately 650°C and near atmospheric pressure, with Saltfoss setting a single core operating cycle of 24 years. Its current development efforts are advancing toward the subsequent certification phase.

Technical cooperation between KAERI and Saltfoss had already been initiated previously. In May 2024, the institute signed a memorandum of understanding on nuclear technology cooperation with Seaborg, Saltfoss's predecessor, with the scope of cooperation covering advanced nuclear energy systems and molten salt reactor R&D. This contract worth approximately KRW 3 billion further materializes the previous cooperative relationship into specific R&D tasks including fuel manufacturing, material corrosion testing, and molten salt test facility construction.

Saltfoss also has Saltfoss Korea established in South Korea and maintains cooperation with Samsung Heavy Industries on the seaMSR-100 floating nuclear power platform. The fuel and material R&D services undertaken by KAERI this time, together with the floating platform development Saltfoss is advancing in South Korea, constitute the current-stage technical development work for the seaMSR-100; the fuel manufacturing, molten salt circulation, and material corrosion testing results produced upon contract completion will be used for the reactor's subsequent development and certification efforts.