The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted Abilene Christian University (ACU) a construction permit for its Molten Salt Research Reactor facility, which will be located on the university's campus in Abilene, Texas.
“This is the first research reactor project we’ve approved for construction in decades, and the staff successfully worked with ACU to resolve several technical issues with this novel design,” said Andrea Veil, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
“Going forward, we’ll have inspectors on the ACU campus when construction gets started.”
In March 2020, ACU submitted a letter of intent to the NRC to apply for a construction permit for a non-power molten salt reactor; in 2022, ACU submitted a Regulatory Engagement Plan related to the project.
The proposed reactor will have a capacity of up to one megawatt-thermal, utilizing graphite moderation and fluoride salt flowing fluid, with the fuel dissolved in the salt.
Molten salt reactors utilize a liquid molten salt mixture as both the coolant and fuel, aiming to provide advantages in safety and efficiency compared to traditional nuclear reactors, which use water as a coolant and solid rods for fuel.
The Natura MSR-1 is the first liquid salt-fueled reactor ever licensed by the NRC in U.S. history, as well as the first university research reactor in the U.S. to be approved in over 30 years.
“If we’re going to meet the growing energy needs, not only in the State of Texas but in our country and the world at large, we must begin deploying advanced nuclear reactors,” said Douglass Robison, Natura Resources founder and president.
“The Natura MSR-1 deployment at ACU will not only demonstrate successful licensure of a liquid-fueled molten salt reactor but will provide operational data that will allow us to safely and efficiently design and deploy our commercial systems.”
ACU’s Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing Laboratory, or NEXT Lab, is exploring the use of molten salts instead of water as a coolant for nuclear reactors. ACU has partnered with multiple universities, including the Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, and the University of Texas at Austin, on developing “commercially deployable molten salt reactors.”
ACU was selected by Natura Resources to head the efforts on design and research, in addition to receiving a $30.5 million donation from Robison.
Texas currently operates two nuclear power plants, with a total of four reactors. These are the South Texas Project Electric Generating Station, located in Matagorda County, and the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, situated in Somervell County.
The plants have an installed capacity of 5,000 MW of electricity and make up 10 percent of Texas’ total energy generation.
Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed support for nuclear energy development, saying back in 2023 that Texas is keeping a “keen eye [on] the ability to expand our capabilities with regard to nuclear generated power.” That year he also established a “working group” to study and plan for the use of nuclear reactors in Texas.
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