WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the final environmental assessment and proposed finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the design, construction, and operation of the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). DOE invites the public to review the final environmental assessment and comment on the proposed FONSI for this project.
MCRE is an experiment scheduled to run for approximately six months at INL, after which it will be decommissioned. The results will provide data crucial to the development of TerraPower’s Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) design.
“MCRE will be the world’s first test of a fast-spectrum, salt-fueled reactor design,” said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dr. Kathryn Huff. “This experiment will help advance an unexplored class of reactors, and the environmental assessment is an important step toward demonstrating the technology.”