Nuclear energy is a critical piece of achieving the planet’s clean energy future, as highlighted recently at COP 28 by the declaration to triple nuclear production by 2050 signed by 22 countries.
Nuclear has the precious and coveted ability to provide renewable baseload power, which can be cost-competitive with fossil-fueled power and also unlock further expansion of intermittent renewables like solar and wind.
Today, nuclear energy provides about 10% of the world's electricity and about one-quarter of the world's low-carbon electricity. So why has it not been adopted on a larger scale?
Traditionally, fission has not enjoyed widespread adoption due to several key disadvantages.
Fusion seeks to address the challenges of fission, and in recent years, fusion technologies have advanced appreciably, but the technological maturity and therefore timelines to commercialization are still quite distant.
Transmutex, founded in 2019 by scientists from CERN and the European Organization for Nuclear Research and based in Geneva, is developing a third pathway for nuclear energy outside of fusion or conventional uranium-fueled fission.
The company’s nuclear energy system uses an alternative fuel cycle for fission based on thorium in conjunction with a particle accelerator, to offer profitable, safe, non-proliferant nuclear energy, while also having the ability to reduce stockpiles of long-term, radioactive nuclear waste.
Transmutex’s nuclear energy system combines a particle accelerator with spent nuclear fuel recycling to unlock the value of a thorium fuel cycle.
Discovered in 1828, thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal that is 3X more abundant than uranium and is currently a wasted byproduct in mining. Thorium itself is not usable in a nuclear reactor because it is fertile, not fissile, so does not split on its own. However, upon absorbing a neutron, the metal is transmuted (the atomic structure is changed) into a fissile material: uranium 233. Uranium 233 burns 15X more efficiently than uranium 235 in conventional reactors.
In existing nuclear reactors, energy is generated when a neutron slams into a larger atom, forcing it to excite and split into two smaller atoms in a self-sustaining chain reaction. This reaction needs to be constantly down-modulated by safety measures to impede a nuclear meltdown.
In contrast, Transmutex’s nuclear energy system uses a particle accelerator to provide an external source of high energy neutrons to up-modulate, or transmute, thorium to jumpstart and sustain the chain reaction.
Transmutex’s technology has several key advantages:
In addition to Transmutex’s novel hardware designs, what sets the company apart is its proprietary simulation software suite that was built on top of CERN’s open-source code for high-energy nuclear systems and later expanded.
Transmutex’s software has enabled the company to accelerate the design of its hardware components without spending significant CapEx, a challenge often faced by other nuclear companies. Furthermore, Transmutex is in the process of independently verifying the software with external research labs. This is anticipated to expedite the regulatory and licensing processes with governments.
Transmutex’s nuclear energy system offers profitable baseload clean energy, while decreasing the costs and operational challenges of storing highly-radioactive nuclear waste.
The company’s 220 MWe system is projected to offer a LCOE of $64/MWh, which is estimated to be parity or lower than the LCOE of coal of $66-$152 per MWh.
Unit economic gains from the technology are attributed to:
Projections on transmuting waste for other operators and cost savings from reducing waste storage fees are estimates. This is because to date, no country has successfully completed construction of a deep geological waste repository. For example, construction of Yucca Mountain, the approved designated US site for nuclear waste, is estimated to cost $96B, but the government shut down the project due to costs and safety concerns from the public.
Transmutex’s technology can catalyze the adoption of safe and non-proliferant nuclear energy, in particular in countries who have not historically had access to it for geopolitical or other reasons. Many countries rely on countries with expertise (e.g., US, China etc.) for designs and licensing of nuclear reactors. These efforts are often influenced by concerns of proliferation and geopolitics, which can limit deployment.
In non-OECD countries, 83% of energy consumed comes from fossil fuels and the current CO2e footprint from the energy emissions in these countries is 9.4B tonnes annually. Many of these countries also do not have viable natural resources for other renewable baseload power sources, like geothermal or hydropower. We see Transmutex’s solution as potentially addressing these emissions and providing a path to transition to renewable energy where other options do not exist.
In addition, there are 250,000 tonnes of highly radioactive spent fuel globally with no viable solution for long-term geological storage. Transmutex’s nuclear energy system provides a profitable endeavor to generate energy and reduce this global environmental problem.
Transmutex will license its sub-critical nuclear system to industrial operators around the world. However, the Company’s business development efforts are geared at partnering with governments due to the regulatory milestones that are required.
Transmutex is in dialogue with government agencies in Europe and Asia to build the company’s first 220 MWe site, at an estimated cost of $2B to $3B. These governments are interested in different use cases. Some are interested in optimizing Transmutex’s system to burn their highly radioactive waste to generate energy. Another country aims to use Transmutex’s technology to bring to market thorium as a fuel source.
Franklin Servan-Schreiber is an entrepreneur with 15+ years of executive experience across a wide range of roles. He was an entrepreneur at a publishing startup, a director of communications for the International Olympics Committee, and a Special Advisor to the Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
Transmutex was founded in 2019 by Franklin and co-founder and advisor, Dr. Frederico Carminati, head of innovation at CERN’s openlab. Together they brought in CTO Dr. Donovan Maire and early members of CERN to join the company.
Dr. Donovan Maire is a nuclear physicist. Prior to Transmutex, he managed the measurement and analysis group at the Laboratory for Nuclear Measurements at the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN).
The team consists of 36 employees, 28 of which have PhDs.
