Fuel Types

STL's vision and final goal is to commercialize a thorium based nuclear fuel, using plutonium (Reactor Grade) as a driver. This fuel will maximize the use of thorium, produce energy from plutonium inventories already existing in nuclear waste, and maximize the conversion of thorium and in-situ burning of uranium-233. However, this is only a long-term goal. The quickest way into market and therefore the more viable approach for the project is to use proven technology, which is based only on uranium enriched to 10%. This is referred to as fuel "Type 1" in the table below. The next natural step is to introduce thorium into the fuel, maximizing its content, while keeping Low Enriched Uranium as the driver (see "Type 2" in table). The final step is to replace the driver by Reactor Grade plutonium, maximizing the benefit of using thorium as nuclear fuel ("Type 3").

In all cases, the fuel manufacturing process, the fuel sphere's geometry and its moderation ratio are kept identical, and all fuel types are able to be used in the same HTMR with no modifications.