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Nuclea Energy said Thursday it has entered into a definitive agreement with Moltex Energy Limited – currently in administration – and its joint administrators to acquire advanced nuclear technology assets across its molten salt reactor and nuclear fuel recycling portfolio.
Nuclea Energy is developing the Morpheus microreactor, a lead-cooled, factory-built micro-modular reactor.
The target portfolio has been developed over more than a decade, backed by over C$96 million ($68 million) in funding from private investment, Canadian public programs, and the U.S. Department of Energy, the company said in a news release.
Contributors include the Province of New Brunswick, the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy through ARPA-E programs.
Moltex’s SSR-W reactor completed Phase 1 of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s Vendor Design Review program, and WATSS advanced under a Service Level Agreement with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
The technologies were developed in collaboration with partners including Ontario Power Generation, CANDU Energy Inc. (now part of AtkinsRéalis), Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Electric Power Research Institute.
The target portfolio is expected to include technology and development materials associated principally with Moltex’s Stable Salt Reactor–Wasteburner (SSR-W), an advanced molten salt fast reactor, and its next-generation Waste To Stable Salt (WATSS) spent nuclear fuel recycling process, together with an extensive patent portfolio of 80 patents across 9 patent families in advanced nuclear technology – including nuclear fuel, reactor, chemistry and materials – as well as 9 pending patents on the fuel recycling process, Nuclea said.
“We believe the nuclear sector is entering a sustained period of strategic investment driven by the increasing competition in nuclear developments between east and west, energy security, grid reliability, industrial electrification and growing demand for large volumes of dependable, low-carbon power driven by the new digital age,” Nuclea CEO Josef Freundorfer said in a news release.
“This agreement is designed to broaden Nuclea’s position within the nuclear sector by adding a pair of advanced reactor designs and nuclear fuel-cycle technology that are complementary to our Morpheus microreactor, Freundorfer said.
