• Copenhagen Atomics reaches pump testing milestone Molten salt reactors (MSRs) rely on pumps to circulate liquid fuel or coolant at temperatures exceeding 600°C for years at a time. • Demonstrating long-term, stable pump operation is therefore a prerequisite for regulatory approval and commercial deployment, the company said. • The pump that has been tested is part of Copenhagen Atomics’ pumped molten salt loop platform, a fully integrated test system designed to replicate the thermal, chemical and mechanical conditions found in future reactors, but without nuclear fission. • By operating multiple molten salt loops in parallel, the company can accumulate operating hours, iterate designs, and generate statistically meaningful reliability data for pumps, valves, heat exchangers and sensors. • Across the company’s test infrastructure, Copenhagen Atomics has now accumulated more than 100,000 hours of combined pump runtime, and many pumps have exceeded one year of runtime. • Molten salt pumps developed by Copenhagen Atomics(Image: Copenhagen Atomics) Copenhagen Atomics designs and builds its pumps, control electronics, sensors and test loops in-house, and produces highly purified molten salts at tonne scale.
Article Summaries:
- Copenhagen Atomics announced that a molten‑salt pump in its test loop has operated continuously for two years, accumulating over 100,000 hours of combined pump runtime across its facilities. The milestone demonstrates stable pump performance at temperatures above 600 °C, a key requirement for regulatory approval of molten‑salt reactors (MSRs). The company’s vertically integrated test platform, which runs multiple parallel loops, allows rapid data collection on pumps, valves, heat exchangers and sensors. Copenhagen Atomics plans to expand testing capacity, build full‑scale non‑nuclear prototypes, and collaborate with the Paul Scherrer Institute to prepare for the first nuclear test of its 100 MWt, thorium‑based reactor.
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