Adam Burak

We need facilities capable of converting uranium and thorium feedstocks into salts, as well as a source of thorium, if we are to build a domestic fuel salt supply chain.

Our current supply chain provides a potential pathway to produce one type of fuel salt. The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used uranium trifluoride/uranium tetrafluoride (UF_3/4) as fuel in the late 1960s, and some current developers are following suit. Uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) made as part of the enrichment process could be reduced to uranium fluoride salts with a +3 or +4 valence state. However, as oxygen and moisture are critical impurities for molten salt, a facility with the capability to properly handle molten salts would be necessary.