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Science·2 min read

TU Dresden Plans Molten Salt Reactor to Recycle Nuclear Waste

Researchers at TU Dresden want to build an experimental molten salt reactor called DEMO that turns spent fuel into energy and could make a final repository unnecessary.

Concept view of an experimental molten salt reactor facility for recycling spent nuclear fuel at a university research site.
Image: t3n Magazin
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Researchers at the Technical University of Dresden want to prove that nuclear waste can be recycled instead of buried. The university plans to build an experimental recycling reactor called "DEMO", based on a molten salt reactor, which would use highly radioactive material from light water reactor operation for both energy and raw materials.

What DEMO is meant to do

According to the project, existing spent fuel rods and vitrified materials would be converted directly into low-emission energy, without the reprocessing that has been necessary so far. The waste would be turned into mostly short-lived fission products. Only these would remain as residue, so disposal of the nuclear waste under the Site Selection Act (StandAG) would no longer apply. That law governs the multi-stage procedure for finding a repository for long-lived, heat-generating radioactive waste.

The background is a long-running problem. Germany has accumulated around 27,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste from decades of operating nuclear power plants. The Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE) is searching for a site that can enclose the waste safely for one million years. The search area was recently narrowed, with the candidate regions significantly reduced.

Savings claimed, questions open

The researchers expect savings of roughly 50 billion euros, assuming no repository is needed. They also say the technology would unlock energy resources equal to 300 times Germany's annual electricity consumption. The project's press release gives no details on how these estimates were calculated.

Whether the concept works and finds political acceptance remains to be shown. First findings are expected in five years at the earliest, and that is the time the team plans to use to build the experimental reactor. Reactors that can burn spent fuel or transuranic elements created in nuclear plants have been studied for decades, so the idea is not new. It still has to prove itself in practice.

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Tags:tu dresdennuclear wastemolten salt reactorgermanyenergy

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