Man with hard hat, protective goggles, gloves and high-vis vest working up high on steel frame

Path to market

Terrestrial Energy’s regulatory and engineering programs are targeting an international role-out of IMSR® cogeneration plants starting in 2030

CNSC design review

Terrestrial Energy began the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s Vendor Design Review process in 2016 and expects to complete that review process in 2022.

IMSR® cogeneration plant pre-application U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission activities commenced in 2018 with grant support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Procurement of components, engineering services and fuel are crucial to deployment. IMSR® plant deployment is supported by an industry wide supplier consortium consisting of: Siemens, BWXT, Aecon, Hatch, Westinghouse, Orano, KSB and others. Our IMSR® plant development program is supported by a consortium of laboratories including EU Joint Research Centre, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Argonne National Laboratory, Risktec, Kinectrics, McMaster University, ENGIE Laborelec, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory and others.

IMSR® cogeneration plants will use standard nuclear fuel, the only technology in its class to do so. For the last 65 years, civilian nuclear fuel has been “standard-assay” low-enriched uranium (less than 5 percent U-235) fuel; it is the only nuclear fuel commercially available today. Its use is a critically important for international acceptance and for near-term commercial deployment of IMSR® cogeneration plants.

IMSR® use of standard-assay low-enriched uranium is a distinguishing attribute in the high-temperature fission technology (Generation IV) sector today. All other reactors in this class require either “high-assay” low-enriched uranium, which is not commercially available, or the require reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel for plutonium. The IMSR® is the only high-temperature fission technology designed to use standard-assay low-enriched uranium, the only one that can practicable deliver a clean energy heat alternative to burning fossil fuels.

More + Less –
CNSC Design Review Cover
Read the full report

Technology timeline

2013

Terrestrial Energy founded.

2016

Start of Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s (CNSC) Vendor Design Review, a regulatory review of IMSR® technology and plant design.

2016

Awarded C$5.7 Mn federal grant from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, the first SMR developer to receive an award.

2017

$1 Billion loan guarantee application for construction financing accepted by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Program Office, the first Gen IV SMR project to achieve this milestone.

2018

Completion of CNSC’s VDR Phase 1 for IMSR® power plant design, an industry first.

2019

IMSR® selected by US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) and CNSC for first joint cross-border review of a high temperature reactor technology.

2020

Click and drag to move timeline

IMSR® Plant selected to final three in an international, competitive procurement evaluation by a leading North America nuclear utility seeking late 2020’s plant operation.

2020

Canadian federal government’s flagship Strategic Innovation Fund awards Terrestrial Energy C$20 Mn, the first SMR developer to receive an award.

2021

Plant supplier consortium formed. BWXT, Siemens, Orano, Aecon, Cameco, KSB, and Westinghouse contracted as major component suppliers and added to supplier consortium, supporting IMSR Plant construction and delivery.

2023

CSNC VDR technology review of IMSR® Plant concludes giving the green light to commercial application with large industrial users.

Glenn Seaborg starting up the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) in 1968, with Chief Engineer J.R. “Dick” Engel at hand to assist.

Building on Proven Prototyped Technology

Glenn Seaborg starting up the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) in 1968, with Chief Engineer J.R. “Dick” Engel at hand to assist. The MRSE was one of the most successful reactor technology demonstration programs at a U.S. national laboratory.

Glenn Seaborg starting up the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) in 1968, with Chief Engineer J.R. “Dick” Engel at hand to assist. The MRSE was one of the most successful reactor technology demonstration programs at a U.S. national laboratory.

The IMSR® cogeneration plant incorporates prototyped, proven and demonstrated molten salt fission technology. This Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) technology is closely related to MSR technology pioneered at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee.

Oak Ridge has developed MSR technology over many decades, building and demonstrating two experimental MSRs: first the Aircraft Reactor Experiment (ARE) and next the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE). Based on the successes of these operating reactor experiments, ORNL commenced a commercial power plant program for MSR technology, which led to the Denatured Molten Salt Reactor (DMSR) in the early 1980s. Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR® is a close relative to the DMSR.

More + Less –