Nuclear Waste to Electric Power

The Wielenga Innovation Foundation, Inc. supports the development of technology that converts nuclear waste to a molten salt that can be "burned" in nuclear reactor.  We aim to eliminate the waste disposal problem and generate massive amounts of electricty. We call it the "Fast Salt" system because the fuel is molten salt suitable for a "fast spectrum" reactor.  A reactor developed by the Wielenga Innovation Foundation burns the long lived portion of waste from conventional reactors that make the waste remain radioactive so long and disposal of it problematic.  We call this reactor the "Wielenga Innovation Salt Tank Reactor" (WISTR).  This reactor was developed in conjunction with researchers at the University of Michigan.  The reactor is a low-pressure, fast spectrum, waste burning reactor.  It burns long lived transuranic (TRU) elements recovered from spent light water reactor (LWR) fuels.  It is sized to provide 600 MW electric power. The core is compact and easily manufactured. 

This presentation on the "Fast Salt System" gives an overview of the system.  This was presented at the MSR Workshop in Knoxville, TN on 11/19/2025.

The WISTR has undergone extensive analysis and development.  A review of the development is a University of Michigan Nuclear Engineering and Radiollogical Sciences department report:  Core Design Evolution of Wielenga Innovation Salt Tank Reactor (WISTR), Yang, W.S; Lee, H; Willat, R; Wielenga T. UM/NRDSL-25/02.

The conversion process that is under development is described in Fast Salt Waste Converter.  This takes Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) and converts it to non-radioactive uranium powder and a crude salt fuel for the WISTR.  This uses carbon and chlorine to convert the oxides of spent fuel to a chloride salt fuel suitable for use in the WISTR.  This crude Fast Salt fuel has fission products in it that are removed in the FS Refiner (see below).  

A process for refining the crude Fast Salt is described in Liquid Metal Fast Salt Refiner.  This takes crude FS fuel from the Converter, or fuel that has already passed through the WISTR, and removes most of the fission products and makes it suitable for burning in the WISTR reactor.  It selectively converts metals that are in the salts and absorbs them into a liquid metal electrode.  The liquid metal is then pumped to a chlorine reactor where the metals are chlorinated to make a clean Fast Spectrum fuel salt.