Molten Salt Reactors GIF provisional System Steering Committee

The provisional System Steering Committee for Molten Salt Reactors (MSR pSSC) was established after the MSR Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2010. Presently, seven members from the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) participate in the MSR pSSC's endeavors. This committee explores a broad range of topics related to Molten Salt Reactors. Molten Salt Reactor designs were investigated during the nascent stages of nuclear power and were even considered for airborne nuclear propulsion in the United States during the 1950s. The wide array of concepts falling under this technology is quite revolutionary approach when compared to the current generation II and III reactors. Despite the fact that nuclear-powered aircraft did not become a reality and no commercial-scale MSR has been operated yet, this technology holds considerable promises, including in the area of radioactive waste reduction and alternative fuel cycles. Several MSR concepts are currently under active development globally.

Activities and Membership of the Molten Salt Reactor GIF provisional System Steering Committee

GIF MSR pSSC gathers seven GIF Members. As it is currently established under an MoU it does not have full fledged R&D projects ongoing. 

AU
Australia
EU
Euratom
JP
Japan
KR
Republic of Korea
RU
Russian Federation
US
United States

If you want to learn more about the Molten Salt Reactor technology head to the MSR System description page. If you want to learn more about the latest outcomes and international efforts carried out under the GIF MSR pSSC please refer to the latest GIF Annual Report. 

MSR pSSC Leadership & Technical Secretariat

Portrait of GIF MSR Chair Dr Krepel

Dr
Jiri KREPEL

MSR pSSC
MSR pSSC Chair

Dr Jiri Krepel is a senior scientist in Advanced Nuclear Systems group of Laboratory for Scientific Computing at PSI Center for Scientific Computing, Theory and Data in Switzerland. He earned his PhD in 2006 at the Czech Technical University in Prague / Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Germany for his thesis entitled “Dynamics of Molten Salt Reactors”. Dr Krepel is the coordinator of the PSI MSR research at Paul Scherrer Institut and responsible for fuel cycle analysis and related safety parameters of Gen IV reactors. He is also the chairman of the Steering Committee of GIF MSR project and co-developer of the IAEA MSR taxonomy. Dr Krepel has experience in the neutronics of liquid-metal and gas-cooled fast reactors and in neutronics and transient analysis of thermal and fast MSRs.

Dr
Victor V. IGNATIEV

MSR pSSC
MSR pSSC Co-Chair
Portrait of Dr Michel Sendis part of the GIF TS

Dr
Franco MICHEL-SENDIS

GIF TS
MSR pSSC
VHTR SSC
GIF Technical Secretary

Dr. Franco Michel-Sendis is a Nuclear Technology and Fuel Cycle Specialist at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), where he has served since 2010. Throughout his career, he has led and coordinated international initiatives in uranium resources, nuclear fuel cycles, nuclear data, and nuclear criticality safety, while also serving as the scientific secretariat to several system steering committees for the Generation IV International Forum. A dual national of France and Mexico, Franco has dedicated his academic and professional life to nuclear science. He holds a PhD in Nuclear Reactor Physics from the University of Paris-Saclay, where his research focused on advanced nuclear fuel cycles, along with advanced degrees from École Polytechnique and the Sorbonne. Franco is deeply interested in, and committed to, bridging the gap between science and policy, particularly in the field of innovative nuclear technologies.