- Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute signs $2.26 million deal with Denmark's Saltforce

- Contract covers nuclear fuel manufacturing, materials corrosion evaluation and other core technologies

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute's main campus in Daejeon. [Herald DB]
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute's main campus in Daejeon. [Herald DB]

South Korea's independently developed core technology for next-generation molten salt reactors is entering the European market.

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said Friday it signed a $2.26 million (3 billion won) contract with Danish nuclear energy company Saltforce to export molten salt reactor, or MSR, technology covering nuclear fuel manufacturing and materials corrosion evaluation.

An MSR is a next-generation reactor that uses molten salt — salt melted at high temperatures — as its fuel and coolant medium. The technology has drawn attention as a next-generation nuclear option because it can employ fuel and coolant systems fundamentally different from those of conventional reactors. MSRs are broadly categorized by the chemical composition of the molten salt used: fluoride-based systems using fluorine and chloride-based systems using chlorine.

Under the two-year agreement, the institute will provide key research and development services for the fluoride-based MSR that Saltforce is developing.

The work will include fluoride molten salt pretreatment, nuclear fuel fabrication and characterization, construction and operation of a natural-circulation molten salt test loop, and corrosion evaluation of candidate structural materials for the reactor.

The contract does not transfer ownership of the institute's existing MSR source technologies or intellectual property. Instead, the institute will provide research and development services drawing on its own technological expertise and research infrastructure.

The export carries added significance because the underlying research was produced through the Ministry of Science and ICT's MSR source technology development project.

The institute has built up long-running expertise in handling high-temperature molten salt and related research infrastructure through its work on pyroprocessing technology for spent nuclear fuel recycling. Building on that foundation, it is developing MARINA, a chloride-based next-generation maritime MSR, in collaboration with domestic industry, academic and research partners.

In the process, the institute has secured core source technologies spanning MSR nuclear fuel fabrication and refining, molten salt chemistry and physical property evaluation, and materials corrosion assessment in high-temperature environments.

The contract is also notable because it extends and applies chloride-based MSR technology developed in South Korea to the characteristics of a fluoride-based MSR being developed abroad. The institute plans to use the deal as a springboard to expand international cooperation in MSR fuel, materials and testing, and to pursue additional technology exports and commercialization.

"This is a meaningful achievement in which South Korea's MSR source technology, secured through national research and development, has had its technical value recognized by a foreign private company," said Lim In-cheol, acting president of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. "We will step up core technology development and international cooperation so that our technology can secure competitiveness and advance into the global market for next-generation MSRs used at sea and on land."


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com