Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

AEE: Startup Transatomic Power to design modular nuclear reactors

AEE: Startup Transatomic Power to design modular nuclear reactors

www.aee.net/index.cfm?objectid=FA2547B0-B176-11E1...


Transatomic Power, a new Massachusetts-based modular nuclear startup, has signed on Russ Wilcox as its CEO. Wilcox, the former CEO of E Ink, joins Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie as cofounder of the company. Transatomic Power designs 200-250 megawatt-capable small nuclear reactors that are capable of replacing aging coal-fired power plants. The Boston Globe reports:
The reactor will rely on nuclear waste to produce power. They call it a "waste-annihilating molten salt reactor," and it can run entirely on the used fuel pellets produced by today's reactors, while reducing the volume of that waste. It's targeted initially at replacing coal plants, and later older nuclear plants, Wilcox explains, "which together make up about 60 percent of U.S. electricity production." He says the company's reactor design could produce roughly thirty times the electricity per pound of fuel, compared to traditional light water reactors.


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