Editing Breeder reactor (section)

=== United States ===
Kirk Sorensen, former NASA scientist and chief nuclear technologist at [[Teledyne Brown Engineering]], has long been a promoter of thorium fuel cycle and particularly liquid fluoride thorium reactors. In 2011, Sorensen founded Flibe Energy, a company aimed to develop 20–50&nbsp;MW LFTR reactor designs to power military bases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Flibe Energy |url=http://flibe-energy.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207043957/http://flibe-energy.com/ |archive-date=7 February 2013 |access-date=29 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=23 May 2011 |title=Kirk Sorensen has started a Thorium Power company Flibe Energy |url=https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2011/05/kirk-sorensen-has-started-thorium-power.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026201509/http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/05/kirk-sorensen-has-started-thorium-power.html |archive-date=26 October 2011 |access-date=30 October 2011 |publisher=The Next Bi Future}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=7 September 2001 |title=Live chat: nuclear thorium technologist Kirk Sorensen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/sep/07/live-web-chat-nuclear-kirk-sorensen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715094622/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/sep/07/live-web-chat-nuclear-kirk-sorensen |archive-date=15 July 2014 |access-date=30 October 2011 |work=Environment Blog |publisher=The Guardian (UK) |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Martin |first=William T. |date=27 September 2011 |title=New Huntsville company to build thorium-based nuclear reactors |url=http://www.huntsvillenewswire.com/2011/09/27/huntsville-company-build-thoriumbased-nuclear-reactors/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406184105/http://www.huntsvillenewswire.com/2011/09/27/huntsville-company-build-thoriumbased-nuclear-reactors/ |archive-date=6 April 2012 |access-date=30 October 2011 |publisher=Huntsville Newswire}}</ref>

In October 2010 [[GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy]] signed a [[memorandum of understanding]] with the operators of the [[United States Department of Energy|US Department of Energy's]] [[Savannah River Site]], which should allow the construction of a demonstration plant based on the company's [[S-PRISM]] fast breeder reactor prior to the design receiving full [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] licensing approval.<ref name="wnn281010">{{cite news |title=Prototype Prism proposed for Savannah River |work=World Nuclear News |date=28 October 2010 |url=http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Prototype_Prism_proposed_for_Savannah_River-2810104.html |access-date=4 November 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128080359/http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Prototype_Prism_proposed_for_Savannah_River-2810104.html |archive-date=28 January 2019}}</ref> In October 2011 ''[[The Independent]]'' reported that the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and senior advisers within the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had asked for technical and financial details of PRISM, partly as a means of reducing the country's plutonium stockpile.<ref>{{cite news |title=New life for old idea that could dissolve our nuclear waste |work=The Independent |location=London |first=Steve |last=Connor |date=28 October 2011 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/new-life-for-old-idea-that-could-dissolve-our-nuclear-waste-2376882.html |access-date=30 October 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111029131943/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/new-life-for-old-idea-that-could-dissolve-our-nuclear-waste-2376882.html |archive-date=29 October 2011}}</ref>

The [[traveling wave reactor]] proposed in a patent by [[Intellectual Ventures]] is a fast breeder reactor designed to not need fuel reprocessing during the decades-long lifetime of the reactor. The breed-burn wave in the TWR design does not move from one end of the reactor to the other but gradually from the inside out. Moreover, as the fuel's composition changes through nuclear transmutation, fuel rods are continually reshuffled within the core to optimize the neutron flux and fuel usage at any given point in time. Thus, instead of letting the wave propagate through the fuel, the fuel itself is moved through a largely stationary burn wave. This is contrary to many media reports, which have popularized the concept as a candle-like reactor with a burn region that moves down a stick of fuel. By replacing a static core configuration with an actively managed "standing wave" or "soliton" core, [[TerraPower]]'s design avoids the problem of cooling a highly variable burn region. Under this scenario, the reconfiguration of fuel rods is accomplished remotely by robotic devices; the containment vessel remains closed during the procedure, and there is no associated downtime.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=TR10: Traveling Wave Reactor |magazine=Technology Review |date=March 2009 |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22114/ |access-date=6 March 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504090500/http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22114/ |archive-date=4 May 2012}}</ref>