Kairos Power and Materion Corporation have commissioned a molten salt purification plant, which is expected to produce large amounts of fluoride salt coolant to be used in high-temperature molten salt reactors.

The purification plant was designed by Kairos and is located at Materion’s campus in Elmore, Ohio.

With TVA as a partner, Kairos Power aims to deploy its salt-cooled reactor at the East Tennessee Park in Oak Ridge. Kairos’ application for a construction permit is still pending.

Kairos’ fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor technology is cooled by a mixture of lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride salts known as “Flibe,” which is chemically stable and operates at low pressure.

Materion, which manufactures highly engineered advanced materials, will supply beryllium fluoride and contribute staffing to operate the plant.

“The [plant] has been in design and process development for more than a year,” said Keith Smith, Vice President of Nuclear, Science and Government Affairs at Materion. “This is the largest Flibe production facility ever built and has the capacity to generate commercial quantities of the material.”

*Original article online at https://www.power-eng.com/nuclear/ohio-plant-to-produce-coolant-for-molten-salt-reactors/#gref

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