ORNL-TM-7207 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site

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includlng $900 million for the concurrent base development work, is
$3950 million (in 1978 dollars).
A preliminary estimate of the construction cost for a "standard" DMSR
(neglecting contingencies, escalatfon, and interest during construction)
yielded about $650/kWe in 1998 dollars.
This compares with about $QOO/kWe
for a PWR aRd $38Q/kWe for a coal plant (without flue-gas cleaning) esti-
mated on the same basis. The BMSR capital estimate did not include the
cost of on-site salt treatment facilities or the costs of salt and fuel
inventories; these quantities are all included in the fuel cycle costs.
The estimated nonfuel B&M costs were 2.82 mills/kWk, and fuel cyde costs
Were 5.3 miils/km. me cost of decommissioning a DMSR was to
be about POX higher than that for a comparably sized LWRe
Tke liee~sing of MSRs has not been seriously addressed because no
proposal to build a reactor beyond the MSRE was ever supported and none
of the conceptual design studies proceeded to that level, Wowever, a
number of new licensing issues clearly would have to be addressed. Be-
cause the three leve%s of fission-product confinement in a DYSR would
differ from those in a soiid-fueied SYS~~T,, demonstrating compliance with
the risk objectives rather than specffic hardware designs in established
licensing criteria presumab%y would be ~ecessary. Preliminary studies
suggest that the risks associated with the operatiom of MSRs may be lower
than those for
reactor system
LWRs, while risks during maintenance and inspection of the
may be higher.
'Fke preliminary studies of DMSRs described previously indicate that
these reactors could have attractive performance and resource utilization
features while providing substantial resistance to the further prolifera-
tion of nuclear explosives. In addition, the environmental and safety
features of DMSRs generally appear to be at least as favorable as those
of other nuclear power systems and the system economic characteristics
are attractive. mile a substantial RDbB effort would be required to
commercialize DMSRs, there are no major unresolved issues in the needed
technology. Thus, a commercial DMSR without on-line fuel pr~cessi~g