A traveling wave reactor, or TWR, is a proposed type of nuclear fission reactor that converts fertile material into usable fuel through nuclear transmutation as a fission zone gradually advances through its core, in tandem with the burnup of fissile material already there. Unlike other fast-neutron and breeder reactor designs, it aims to use fuel efficiently without uranium enrichment or reprocessing, running directly on depleted uranium, natural uranium, thorium or spent fuel removed from light water reactors. The concept has been developed since 2006 by TerraPower, a company spun off from Intellectual Ventures.
Facts
Classification
MaturityTRL 6: Technology Demonstrated in Relevant Environment 1 Technology TypeNuclear Fission Reactor 1 Invented Year Sources
1. Traveling wave reactor, Wikipedia
Lead section
A traveling-wave reactor (TWR) is a proposed type of nuclear fission reactor
History section
The concept of a reactor that could breed its own fuel inside the reactor core was initially proposed and studied in 1958 by Savely Moiseevich Feinberg
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