power headquarters huntsville alabama key people kirk f. sorensen president and chief technologist board of advisers website flibe energy.com flibe energy is an american company that intends to design construct and operate small modular reactors based on liquid fluoride thorium reactor acronym lftr ; pronounced lifter technology . contents 1 corporation 2 small modular reactor design 2.1 flibe energy reactor 3 initial plan 3.1 economics 3.2 applications 4 military 5 challenges 6 kirk sorensen 7 see also 8 references 9 external links corporation edit molten flibe salt flibe energy was founded on april 6 2011 by kirk sorensen former nasa aerospace engineer and formerly chief nuclear technologist at teledyne brown engineering and kirk dorius an intellectual property attorney and mechanical engineer . the name flibe comes from flibe a fluoride salt of lithium and beryllium used in lftrs . flibe energy incorporated is registered in the state of delaware . 1 2 3 their advertising slogan is lftr by flibe energy powering the next thousand years 4 small modular reactor design edit presenting at the october 2011 thorium energy conference sorensen described how various factors influence design for small modular reactors . 5 neutron temperature 6 requirements u 235 and th 232 u 233 work most efficiently with thermal spectrum neutrons 1 ev u 238 pu 239 requires fast spectrum neutrons 100 000 ev to sustain breeding operating temperature moderate defined as 250 350 c versus high defined as 700 1000 c and pressure atmospheric versus high is related to coolant type ; there are four one for each temperature pressure combination water moderate temperature high pressure e.g. b & w mpower nuscale westinghouse 7 8 iris klt 40s gas high temperature high pressure e.g. pbmr gt mhr em2 liquid metal moderate temperature atmospheric pressure e.g. hyperion toshiba 4s ge prism liquid salt high temperature atmospheric pressure e.g. lftr various conclusions about the three fuels and possible reactor types were then drawn 5 higher temperature reactors can operate at higher thermal efficiency e.g. with brayton cycle turbines which is desirable . high reactor pressure is a safety concern . dubious discuss some perceive u 235 as scarce . it is a finite resource though there is 40 trillion tons in the earth s crust . nonetheless this reactor model plans to exploit a larger fuel source thorium . gas based concepts e.g. pbmr vhtr gt mhr are also feasible . the liquid metal coolants used are poor neutron moderators thus such systems strongly favor u 238 pu 239 usage ; adding moderators to enable use with u 235 or th 232 u 233 would be feasible but unattractive . conversely water is a good moderator and this rules out exclusive plutonium breeding in such systems . gas cooled systems with u 238 pu 239 gas cooled fast breeder reactor gcfr and em2 concepts are described as feasible but with difficult fuel processing while molten salt systems with u 238 pu 239 e.g. msfr are only somewhat feasible . he notes that while th 232 u 233 was used in a water cooled reactor at the shippingport atomic power station and a gas cooled reactor at the fort st. vrain generating station thorium dioxide fuel is very difficult to process making th 232 u 233 unattractive for all systems except liquid salt e.g. where thorium and uranium fluorides are used instead . in summary the lftr thus combines the desirable characteristics of abundant fuel supply high operating temperature atmospheric operating pressure and simple fuel processing . flibe energy reactor edit liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr generation generation iv reactor reactor concept thorium 232 fueled graphite moderated flibe molten salt reactor msr concept by flibe energy status concept location location main parameters of the reactor core fuel fissile material 233u fuel state liquid flibe molten salt fertile material 232th neutron energy spectrum information missing primary control method negative temperature coefficient primary moderator graphite primary coolant liquid flibe molten salt reactor usage primary use generation of electricity see also generation iv reactor list of small nuclear reactor designs micro nuclear reactor and molten salt reactor an independent technology assessment coordinated with epri and southern company represents the most detailed information so far publicly available about flibe energy s proposed lftr design . 9 low pressure 5 high temperature molten salt reactor flibe fuel & coolant salt 10 600 mwth reactor 250 mwe net electricity output 10 supercritical co2 brayton cycle power conversion system 11 two fluid reactor graphite moderated hastelloy n construction 12 passive nuclear safety features 13 fail safe freeze valve and drain tank control rods also actively actuatable primary & intermediate salt loop heat exchangers 14 chemical processing move uranium from blanket to fuel salt and remove fission products 15 off gas handling for xe kr tritium 16 initial plan edit in the 12 may 2011 introduction to flibe energy with sorensen and dorius 17 an interview of sorensen from 28 may 2011 18 and another from 14 july 2011 19 unreliable source the creation of lftrs was discussed . the real challenge will be getting to the first unit . kirk sorensen 19 economics edit world energy consumption by fuel type ; historical data 1990 2008 with projections to 2035 20 see also economics of new nuclear power plants sorensen estimates that it will cost several hundred million dollars dubious discuss to get to the first lftr . 19 unreliable source besides the safety aspect mentioned above of a lftr operating at far less pressure than a typical nuclear reactor sorensen expects it to reduce costs that obviates the need for 9 inch steel pressure vessels and thick concrete containment structures . everything gets smaller with thorium and fluoride salts and that provides a substantial economic benefit . 19 unreliable source however there are existing reactors that operate at a lower pressure than pwrs . every other reactor design other than the pwr has lower pressure including bwrs candus rbmks gcrs fbrs etc. . . in a february 2011 interview with kiki sanford two months prior to the founding of flibe energy sorensen estimated that the production cost of a lftr i.e. once research and development has finished would be on the order of 1 2 21 per watt making it competitive with the construction costs of natural gas plants . 22 unreliable source applications edit see also heat engine cogeneration copper chlorine cycle thermal depolymerization and fischer tropsch process at its most basic level the function of a lftr is to act as a source of thermal energy colloquially heat . the ability to harness this energy for useful and interesting work is only limited by the laws of thermodynamics and the imagination . specific examples of other lftr applications cited by sorensen desalination the conversion of salt water into fresh water using the waste heat from electricity generation 17 district heating using the waste heat from electricity generation 19 unreliable source hydrogen production by water splitting 23 sulfur iodine cycle 23 artificial fixation of nitrogen for fertilizer . 24 not in citation given unreliable source carbon neutral synthetic fuel production 5 23 methanol 23 dimethyl ether 23 ammonia 25 military edit in order to achieve its goals flibe energy intends to work with the us armed services 26 which have an independent nuclear regulatory authority . accelerated military development and demonstration can speed later deployment for civilian power production by providing extended materials and operational data to inform civilian reactor licensing through the nuclear regulatory commission nrc . many domestic military installations are dependent on surrounding vulnerable local power grids 27 and the us army would like its bases to have self sufficient power generation capability described as base islanding which a lftr could provide . 18 28 presenting at the thorium energy conference on 10 october 2011 sorensen further described how the us military needs a remote source of power in the form of small rugged reactors srr capable of operating in dangerous and remote areas and how flibe energy is initially developing a srr lftr to meet that need as it would be portable and easy to assemble disassemble obviating vulnerable refueling convoys . 5 challenges edit four specific difficulties have been mentioned 5 salts can be corrosive to materials designing for high temperature operation is more difficult there has been little innovation in the field for several decades the differences between lftrs and the light water reactors in majority use today are vast ; the former is not yet fully understood by regulatory agencies and officials . note nrc mention above in addition this reactor may require parts different from existing reactors making them more expensive . kirk sorensen edit kirk sorensen flibe energy co founder kirk sorensen has a bachelor s degree in mechanical engineering from utah state university a master s degree in aerospace engineering from the georgia institute of technology and a master s degree in nuclear engineering from the university of tennessee . 29 30 31 he worked at nasa s marshall space flight center from 2000 to 2010 followed by a year at teledyne brown engineering in huntsville alabama as chief nuclear technologist until he left to found flibe energy in 2011 . 18 32 he has discussed the potential of thorium and lftr technology for the guardian s 2009 manchester report on climate change mitigation 33 wired magazine 34 and the tedxyyc conference in 2011 . 23 sorensen was written about in the book superfuel 35 and appears in the documentaries thorium remix 2011 36 37 the thorium dream 38 39 40 as well as being credited in the upcoming film about thorium titled the good reactor . 41 sorensen has stated that the principal reason thorium based reactors have not been built is corporate interests . general electric and westinghouse make most of their profits in the nuclear sector on fuel supply contracts . with a business model overwhelmingly dominated by fuel fabrication the development of a reactor technology that requires no fabrication of fuel would undermine such a business model . citation needed see also edit energy portal nuclear technology portal alvin m. weinberg nuclear power debate thorium based nuclear power thorium energy alliance references edit flibe energy company website september 27 2011 new huntsville company to build thorium based nuclear reactors huntsville newswire don t count out nuclear just yet . cnn . . energy from thorium lftr technology by flibe energy a b c d e f presenting at thec2011 and powerpoint file of slides archived october 16 2011 at the wayback machine . note neutron yield per neutron absorbed graph from mit opencourseware ; to sustain breeding at least two neutrons red line must be released per neutron absorbed . westinghouse smr westinghouse announces small modular reactor program on technology innovation technology assessment of a molten salt reactor design the liquid fluoride thorium reactor lftr . epri . 22 october 2015 . retrieved 10 march 2016 . a b epri 2015 2 1 . epri 2015 2 2 . epri 2015 3 8 . epri 2015 3 30 . epri 2015 3 9 & 10 . epri 2015 3 11 . epri 2015 3 12 . a b introduction to flibe energy youtube video 20 min and pdf of slides used a b c kirk sorensen thorium could be our energy silver bullet mp3 first 38 min a b c d e could thorium solve the world s energy problems international energy outlook 2011 released september 19 2011 note does not incorporate prospective legislation or policies that might affect energy markets and excludes fukushima daiichi nuclear disaster impacts . dr. robert hargraves who is on flibe energy s board of advisers lays out a strategy in aim high video 1 and pdf 2 where factory mass production of 100 mw modular lftr reactors produce one a day at 200 million dollars each . this approach enables incremental capital outlays affordability to developing nations and truck transport to the plant site . dr. kiki s