Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
🇨🇳 Shanghai, CN · Founded 1959 · Active
Also known as SINAP, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics
The Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) is a research institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, founded in 1959, that works on accelerator and photon science and on civil nuclear technology. It hosts a national key laboratory for thorium-based fission energy and a project office for the thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR) programme. SINAP operates TMSR-LF1, a 2 MW thermal experimental reactor in Minqin County, Gansu, in which the fuel is dissolved in a fluoride salt and graphite slows the neutrons. The reactor received a ten-year operating licence in June 2023, first went critical on 11 October 2023 and reached full power on 17 June 2024; it was later licensed to add thorium to its fuel salt.
- Sector
- Fission
- Technology
- Molten salt reactor
- Fuel
- Thorium, High-assay low-enriched uranium
- Role
- Research institute, Reactor developer, Operator
It is the operator of record for TMSR-LF1 (operating).
Terms
- Molten salt reactor
- Fuel DISSOLVED in the salt, which in most designs is fuel carrier and coolant at once. Distinct from a salt-cooled reactor with solid fuel; the two are often confused. Moderator, where one is used at all, is a separate design choice from the salt: thermal-spectrum MSRs are typically graphite-moderated, fast-spectrum MSRs carry no moderator.
- Thorium
- Thorium-232, which is fertile rather than fissile: after absorbing a neutron it becomes uranium-233 through two radioactive decays, the second taking about a month, and only then can it fission and sustain a chain reaction. A thorium reactor therefore needs a starting charge of fissile material. Thorium is about three times more abundant than uranium in the Earth's crust.
- High-assay low-enriched uranium
- High-assay low-enriched uranium: uranium enriched to between 5% and just under 20% uranium-235, as the US Department of Energy defines it. It is still formally low-enriched, because the international line for highly enriched uranium is 20%, which is why many designs specify 19.75%. The binding supply constraint for many advanced reactor designs. The 5 to 10% part, which carries lighter US physical-security requirements than material from 10% up, is also tagged as LEU+. A developer calling fuel in that band 'LEU' is making a labelling choice, not describing a different enrichment.
Design values
| Device | Parameter | Value | Unit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TMSR-LF1 | Thermal capacity (rated) | 2 | MW | design valueclaimed |
Devices
Related companies
Sources
- 中国科学院上海应用物理研究所aggregator
- 中国科学院上海应用物理研究所 (home page)operator
- TMSR-LF1aggregator