Turkey aims to add nuclear technology to its technological inventory within the scope of the decision for “Promoting R&D studies for the attainment of nuclear power and fuel cycle technologies” taken by Supreme Council for Science and Technology at the 29th meeting in 2016. Accordingly, TÜBİTAK has started to work for establishing a prototype Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) by attaining the needed technology and developing special materials and a fuel technology for the reactor; with a motivation to take part in an emerging, new generation reactor technology all along, in conformity with the nuclear technology studies in the world.
In this context, TÜBİTAK held “Molten Salt Reactor Technology Determination Workshop” on 3-4 December 2017 in Marmara Research Center in order to make a choice for the prototype considering such parameters as the MSR types, the salt and fuel types, the power levels and the heat usage areas.
Moderated by Center’s Strategy and Technology Development vice president Dr. Murat Makaracı, on the first day of the Workshop, Prof. Else Merle-Lucotte, Dr. Michel Allibert and Dr. Axel Laureau; nuclear technology experts from CNRS-Grenoble, gave seminars on the types and selection criteria of MSRs. The second day of the Workshop moderated by TUBİTAK Vice President Dr. Orkun Hasekioğlu, featured the presentations of the Turkish experts in nuclear field and the discussions about the selection of an MSR prototype.
At the end of the workshop, a tendency to establish a thorium-based, low power, breeder type fast spectrum MSR prototype in TUBITAK was favored.
