Looking at the various sites and references, none specify exactly what the fuel is. I was hoping that the NuScale reactors would be liquid-salt thorium, but the lack of details suggest that the reactors are the traditional fast-breeder reactors. Anyone know differently?
According to the article they plan on using an Xe-100 type reactor. According to the X Energy web site (
https://x-energy.com) the fuel is uranium (no mention of enrichment) encapsulated in layers of carbon and silicon carbide and is claimed to function as it's own containment Specific details are lacking, indicating to me they are still in the licensing process and trying to protect proprietary information. The basic design looks like a “pebble bed” helium cooled High Temperature Gas cooled Reactor (HGTR) providing the energy to operate a conventional steam cycle, not a fast breeder.
As an aside the NuScale reactor is a small scale Pressurized water Reactor (PWR), using light water as the coolant.
Admiralty I've been out of the industry for seven years or so, but I am not aware of anyone pursuing licensing of a molten salt reactor using thorium as the fertile material to breed U-233.