Jacobs to assist Moltex in development of nuclear power reactor

US-based engineering group Jacobs has been selected by Moltex Energy to support the development of a new type of nuclear power plant – the Stable Salt Reactor. The reactor will be developed at a facility near Warrington.Moltex Energy’s Stable Salt Reactor is designed to generate low cost electricity by burning processed spent fuel pellets which would otherwise have to be stored as radioactive waste.Jacobs will build a bespoke experimental facility for thermal transfer testing at its Birchwood Park research and development facility.To assist with validation of thermal transfer modelling, Jacobs’ chemistry, materials, engineering, instrumentation and modelling teams will collaborate to create a simulation to replicate the heat output of a fuel channel.Moltex has been awarded more than $6 million in funding from Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a United States Department of Energy agency, to help develop the reactor.