Molten Salt Solutions
Santa Fe-based Molten Salt Solutions commercializes molten salt synthesis and purification tech.
Founded
2018Santa Fe-based Molten Salt Solutions commercializes molten salt synthesis and purification tech.
The company enriches lithium-6, lithium-7, and chlorine-37 for nuclear customers. Lithium-6 breeds tritium in fusion machines, lithium-7 controls coolant chemistry in pressurized-water and molten salt reactors, and chlorine-37 suits fast-spectrum molten salt designs.
A second line synthesizes metal chloride and fluoride salts, including depleted uranium trichloride, using processes licensed from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Supply agreements are in place with Type One Energy, Gauss Fusion, and Fissionaire.
Fusion and small modular fission developers are moving toward commercialization and need secure supplies of enriched lithium, which existing separation methods cannot produce at the scale those programs require. The International Atomic Energy Agency projects global nuclear capacity approaching 1,000 gigawatts by 2050.
Demand concentrates in a small set of well-funded reactor programs, so early supply agreements matter more than broad market share. The company already holds commitments from fusion developers Type One Energy and Gauss Fusion and from fission developer Fissionaire.
The dual-flow counter-current chromatography and solvent-extraction process is described in the company's New Mexico Advanced Energy Award profile as roughly 100 times more efficient than legacy enrichment approaches. That efficiency claim underpins the plan to reach commercial production volumes from a single Santa Fe facility.
The United States has no commercial-scale domestic producer of enriched lithium-6 or lithium-7, leaving reactor developers dependent on foreign supply. Signed agreements with fusion and fission developers give the company committed demand ahead of that capacity coming online.