physics

Transatomic Power

Transatomic Power is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Transatomic Power rather than just read about it. In short: Transatomic Power was an American company that designed Generation IV nuclear reactors based on molten salt reactor (MSR) technology. MIT alumni Dr.

Key takeaways

Transatomic Power belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Transatomic Power to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Transatomic Power from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Transatomic Power was an American company that designed Generation IV nuclear reactors based on molten salt reactor (MSR) technology. MIT alumni Dr. Leslie Dewan and Mark Massie founded Transatomic Power in 2011, and its board directors included E Ink Corporation co-founder Russ Wilcox. Among its backers were the venture capital outfit Founders Fund, of which Peter Thiel is a partner. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Transatomic first prize in the ARPA-E Future Energy innovation contest. In 2018 the company announced that it would be winding down and open source its intellectual property. The company discovered that in 2016 it had made errors in its early analysis and realized that the design couldn't consume nuclear waste. Transatomic Power ceased operation on September 25, 2018.

Reactor concept Transatomic initial concept was that of a Waste Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor (WAMSR) designed to digest spent nuclear fuel. The concept was based on the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment reactor that ran at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) from 1964 to 1969. It was open to the use of thorium or uranium as a fuel in its reactors. This design was later updated and corrected, and the claim that the reactor is able to use nuclear waste as fuel was dropped. The latest design is based on a low pressure, high temperature molten salt reactor. Features include:

A planned capacity of 1250 MWth, converting this to 520 MWe of electricity. This is a conservative rating of 41.6% efficiency. Passive nuclear safety features: Fail safe freeze valve and drain tank and Control rods and neutron reflectors - also actively actuatable. Lithium fluoride (LiF) fuel salt. This is a departure from the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment, which used an admixture of beryllium fluoride in its salt to get beryllium's corrosion control and neutron-doubling effects. Transatomic claims that LiF can dissolve more fuel per unit of salt, compensating for LiF's lack of neutron-doubling and higher melting point. An additional issue is that to minimize tritium production, the salt's ratio of lithium 7 should be enhanced. Currently, Lithium 7 is produced only in small amounts, for calibrating mass spectrographs. A single reactor will require quantities on the order of several metric tonnes. Moderated by zirconium hydride (ZrH), possibly also using lithium hydride (LiH) and yttrium hydride (YH). ZrH is corroded by molten LiF salt, but an admixture of YH in the moderator may form an anticorrosion barrier of yttrium lithium fluoride. The reactor's vat, piping, heat-exchangers and pumps are to be made of "Modified Hastelloy-N," a corrosion-resistant nickel-chromium alloy developed from experience with the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment. There is no published operating experience using this alloy with LiF in a reactor core, and the salt's lack of a redox control component (such as beryllium) to manage corrosion increases the risk. Regulators may delay commercial deployment of Transatomic's reactor by up to two full refueling cycles to validate this choice. With the Transatomic reactor's long fuel-use cycle, this could take a decade, and pose commercial risks.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Transatomic Power

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Transatomic Power claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Transatomic Power before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Transatomic Power ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Transatomic Power

In research: Transatomic Power appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Transatomic Power in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Transatomic Power is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2011 establishments in the United States, Energy companies established in 2011, Non-renewable resource companies established in 2011, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Transatomic Power outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Transatomic Power in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Transatomic Power means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Transatomic Power out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Transatomic Power in simple terms?

Transatomic Power was an American company that designed Generation IV nuclear reactors based on molten salt reactor (MSR) technology. MIT alumni Dr.

Why does Transatomic Power matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Transatomic Power?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Transatomic Power.