For a nuclear reactor, developments around the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) are happening with uprecedented speed. Early 2013, Terrestrial Energy has been founded and in a few years time has been able to establish an impressive team, cooperations with several US Universities, a large network in the industry, covering the United States and Europe. On their website, the company claims that its Integral Molten Salt Reactor will be will be ready for commercial use as a Small Modular Reactor by early next decade. More specifically TE mentions the year 2024.
In the video below, Simon Irish, CFO of Terrestrial Energy, explains why MSR’s fill in a very real demand of the world wide energy market.
In his 2013 TEAC presentation, LeBlanc joked about cooperating with oil barons. Unlike what has been suggested earlier, also on this website, reliable sources have stated that ‘there is not a single dollar from the oil sand industries in Terrestrial Energy’.
On this website (opens in new frame; LeBlancs presentation starts around 1:53:00), you can watch LeBlanc’s presentation for the symposium Thorium MSR’s at Delft Technical University on April 17, 2015.
In the video below, LeBlanc makes a remark that sheds light on the the regulatory procedure he faces – seen by many as a mayor hurdle in the development of molten salt reactors. In the conversation, LeBlanc reveals an important difference between the Canadian and the US regulatory authorities.
On the screen below you see Popoff sitting in front, LeBlanc is on the back seat. The video, shot around Christmas 2013 by Gordon McDowell, posted on February 22, 2014, is a bit long, but provides a rare overview of developments and motivations of Terrestrial Energy.