Monday Afternoon, I drove to ORNL to hear a presentation by Dr. Kazuo Furukawa and Keishiro Fukushima of the "International Thorium Energy & Molten-Salt Technology Inc." (IThEMS). Dr. Furukawa is a distinguished Japanese nuclear scientist who for over a generation has worked to keep international interest in Molten Salt Reactors alive. IThEMS is a vehicle for launching Dr. Furukawa's Fuji reactor technology. Dr. Furukawa and Mr. Fukushima are looking for investors and development partners. They want to build their first prototype, the 10 MW Mini-Fuji in the United States with an American partner doing the prototype construction. The Mini-Fuji is a practical project because uses technology developed at ORNL for the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (1965-1969). Thus the little research would be involved in prototype development. IThEMS business plans call for the Mini-Fuji prototype to be operational by 2015 and for a larger 200 MW Fuji reactor to follow by 2020. IThEMS plans to market both reactors. Mr. Fukushima stated that IThEMS is negotiating with Korean Shipbuilders over the potential sale of Mini-Fujis for ship propulsion systems. According to Mr.Fukushima the Korean shipbuilders are in competition with the Chinese, and view mini-Fuji power as potentially offering a competitive advantage. It should be noted that in the long range energy picture decarbonization would require that fossil fuel powered engine technology be replaced by energy from non-carbon emitting source. The options appear to be nuclear power, or synthetic liquid fuel. IThEMS claims that it can build the Fuji for 30% less than conventional water cooled reactors. Thus ship propulsion would appear to represent a market opportunity for the Mini-Fuji. Industrial process heat would be another. The Mini-Fuji would also serve as the energy source for a stand alone nuclear battery system, although that field looks crowded at the moment. The Mini-Fuji would have some advantages over its competitors including superior safety and low cost.
I offered to have lunch with Dr. Furukawa and Mr.Fukushima today, but they were headed south and would be, I surmise, talking with a potential business partner.
Investing in or partnering up with IThEMS would certainly have its risks. The upside for the investor would be to make a ground floor investment for a potentially huge Molten Salt Reactor market. The down side is that IThEMS is basically a start up with no money and no resources. All it really has is an idea and Dr. Furukawa's name.
The Mini-Fuji represents a potential opportunity for the American prototype development partner. First Dr. Furukawa's name does mean something and it offers an entry to a number of research laboratories in Japan, Russia, and Central and Western Europe. Participating in the Mini-Fuji prototype development would be a great opportunity for anyone who wanted to get into the Molten Salt Reactor business. Even if the Mini-Fuji failed as a business opportunity, the prototype development experience could prove invaluable for anyone who was interested in further MSR development.
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8 comments:
A few months ago they were looking for $300 Million. Is that the figure they're still putting out there?
What can they do for $300 Million?
They are still looking for $300 million. The three hundred million will pay for the development of the Mini-Fuji prototype. Presumably you get a share of the profits from Mini-Fuji sales. If the ship propulsion business takes off, that might be a lot of money.
Any guesses on how significantly mini-Fuji would have to be changed to satisfy the needs of the Korean ship builders to make a marine nuclear powerplant?
The approximately 10 MW Mini-Fuji could make a very light and compact reactor of approximately the same size as the ORNL MSRE but unfortunately shielding requirements for a ship would still be substantial and do not scale linearly and proportionally with the power output of the reactor.
The Japanese commercial nuclear research vessel Mutsu was taken out of service because of problems with its solid safety shielding. An advantage of liquid shielding is that there are gaps for a dangerous unprotected stream of neutron and gamma radiation to escape without attenuation.
What regulatory obstacles would apply to the development of a Japanese registered commercial ship fitted with a nuclear naval reactor?
Dear Charles - there was a typo in my previous comment that made it hard to interpret - if it is not too much trouble I would appreciate if you would delete my first flawed comment and supstitute the following:
(Thanks!)
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Any guesses on how significantly mini-Fuji would have to be changed to satisfy the needs of the Korean ship builders to make a marine nuclear powerplant?
The approximately 10 MW Mini-Fuji could make a very light and compact reactor of approximately the same size as the ORNL MSRE but unfortunately shielding requirements for a ship would still be substantial and do not scale linearly and proportionally with the power output of the reactor.
The Japanese commercial nuclear research vessel Mutsu was taken out of service because of problems with its solid safety shielding. An advantage of liquid shielding is that there are no gaps for a dangerous unprotected stream of neutron or gamma radiation to escape without attenuation.
Does anyone know who would have regulatory jurisdiction over the development of a Japanese registered commercial ship fitted with a nuclear naval reactor?
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Robert, Blogger dies not allow comment editing, so I simply will allow your comments to stand as they are. I think your readers will understand your intentions.
As much as I'd like to see any LFTR variant succeed, it seems to me that an FHR (salt cooled reactor with TRISO fuel) is a much better fit for commercial ships.
It will be much easier to convince the public that in the unlikely event of a shipwreck, the TRISO fuel will remain safely isolated from the public.
Hi,
I am wondering why they do not look to private capital for this. Governments have let this technology Die once before in US, as it does not produce fuels for bombs. Why should we rely on governments, there are many private capital firms, and really 300 milion is not that much. I suspect Google or Bill Gates would give them half. Why not a stock offering? Any Ideas?
Eugenio, They were in fact looking for private capital, and talked to a number of people about it, I believe, but no investors were willing to take a risk. Google has had numerous contacts with the LFTR crowed, and I am fairly sure that Dr. Furukawa had some contact with Google last year.
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