Wielenga Innovation Static Salt Reactor (WISSR)

The Wielenga Innovation Foundation, Inc. supports the development of a molten salt reactor in conjunction with researchers at the University of Michigan.  The reactor design is unique in that it holds the liquid fuel in annular chambers in the core.  The liquid fuel can be moved easily and it used to adjust the reactivity of the reactor.  It also facilitates the refueling of the core.  The reactor is a low-pressure, fast spectrum, waste burning reactor.  It burns long lived transuranic (TRU) elements recovered from used light water reactor (LWR) fuels.  It is sized to provide 500 MW electric power (enough for ~360,000 homes). Inherent passive shutdown is achieved by a high negative temperature reactivity coefficient of the liquid fuel and by the expansion of fuel out of the core. The core is compact and can be manufactured and transported by road to its destination. 

Analysis of the WISSR is the subject of several papers and presentations.

• The paper "Core design study of the Wielenga Innovation Static Salt Reactor (WISSR)" was presented at the ICAPP2023 conference . It won a best paper and resulted in an article having the same name in the Nuclear Engineering and Technology (NET) Journal, March 2024, pages 922-932.  A copy of the paper: NET Paper. The presentation along with comments: ICAPP2023Presentation.

• The paper "Fuel Cycle Analysis of Wielenga Innovation Static Salt Reactor (WISSR)" will be presented at the International Conference on Physics of Reactors (PHYSOR 2024),  April 21-23, 2024.  Here is a draft copy:  WISSR_Fuel_Cycle

• The paper " Fuel Expansion in Pressure Supported Fuel Reactors" describes how supporting the fuel using pressure (such as in the WISSR) effects the movement of fuel due to temperature changes.  This paper will be presented at the ICAPP2024 / ANS meeting in Las Vegas in June 16-19.  Here is a draft copy:  Fuel Expansion

• The paper "CFD Analysis of Heat Transfer in Molten Salt Fuel Chambers of the Wielenga Innovation Static Salt Reactor (WISSR)" will be presented at the 31st International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE31) August 4-8, 2024, Prague, Czech Republic.