Türkiye and Denmark initiated cooperation in thorium-fueled nuclear technologies

An important step has been taken to enable the use of thorium, a nuclear energy raw material, in innovative technologies. Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mining Research Agency (TENMAK), the relevant organization of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, signed a memorandum of understanding with Denmark-based Copenhagen Atomics. With the signatures signed in the presence of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, studies will be carried out to use thorium in new generation nuclear technologies. Thanks to these studies, it will be aimed to produce thorium compounds with domestic means.

Evaluating the memorandum of understanding, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar stated that the signatures have a different feature and said, "I hope this cooperation will yield results and the work in this field will turn into a product that can be commercialized in the future. This cooperation is important since it is a different fuel, especially thorium."

Minister Bayraktar accepted the Doruk Mining workers, who concluded their action for their receivables with a compromise. Bayraktar said, "It is never acceptable not to be rewarded for this work while it is being done. You fought a just struggle. We have always been with you."

Modular reactors

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister Bayraktar emphasized that, in addition to large-scale reactors, small modular reactors, which they describe as the 'new age of nuclear', have been developed very rapidly recently. Bayraktar said, "Many countries in the world are working on developing this technology. Turkey is also involved in important activities in this regard and many projects are running in parallel. Investors in Turkey are trying to carry out these projects jointly with our public institutions. Apart from that, there has been a serious interest thanks to the incentive program put forward by our Ministry of Industry and Technology. We are working based on the idea of ​​'how can we bring different technologies to our country?'"

IT STANDS OUT AS A FUEL

Stating that the signature signed between TENMAK and Copenhagen Atomics has a different feature, Minister Bayraktar said, "Thorium fuel stands out in Copenhagen Atomics' technology in small modular reactors. Thorium has a special importance because it is a technology that is widely available in our country and we think that the fuel will not be dependent on foreign sources in this sense. I hope this cooperation will yield results and the studies in this field will turn into a product that can be commercialized in the future. It is a different fuel, especially thorium." "This cooperation is important for us," he said.

With the agreement reached, domestic industry and technology stakeholders, researchers and engineering capacity will be included in the process to utilize Turkey's thorium resources in high value-added nuclear technologies.

R&D studies

One of the priority topics of the work will be R&D and project activities aimed at producing thorium in Turkey, which can be used in Molten Salt Reactors, one of the new generation nuclear reactor technologies. Denmark-based Copenhagen Atomics is conducting R&D studies on Molten Salt Reactors, one of the 4th generation reactor concepts that can enable the use of thorium in the nuclear fuel cycle.