The small nuclear power plants will use molten salt in their fuel, making them safer and more versatile and portable than ...

General diagram. (Source: ORNL ... and many have had prototypes built. So too for molten salt reactors (MSRs), which saw Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) create a number of prototypes ...

Molten salt nuclear reactors (MSR) also have unique passive methods of preventing nuclear disasters. Some plants are equipped with what's known as a "freeze plug" in the reactor chamber.

Initially developed in the 1950s, molten salt reactors have benefits in higher efficiencies and lower waste generation. Some designs do not require solid fuel, which eliminates the need for ...

A technology called the molten-salt reactor first went online in 1965 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, but was scrapped in the 1970s because it wasn't good for making nuclear weapons. If ...

Scientists at the United States Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have announced a breakthrough for the world’s first critical ...

A National Geographic emerging explorer with a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, she wants to resurrect the molten-salt reactor, a 1960s-era design that she hopes will revive nuclear energy as a ...

Chemists report that radiation-induced chemical reactions may help mitigate the corrosion of metals in a new type of nuclear reactor cooled by molten salts.

One type of advanced reactor, a molten salt reactor, uses fuels dissolved in molten salt coolants instead of the solid fuels used in traditional nuclear reactors. These reactors feature enhanced ...