Molten Salt Reactor Workshop 2026

A leadership summit and global broadcast focused on deploying small modular reactors and advanced nuclear. Themes include financing, first-of-a-kind project risk, supply-chain resilience, regulation, technology, project execution, and partnerships among utilities, developers, technology companies, finance, and regulators. The event frames nuclear as a scalable option for energy security.

The conference theme is “Going Critical: Creating a Durable Nuclear Resurgence.” Plenary discussions address how technology, finance, and public policy can sustain nuclear energy momentum, and how public confidence, domestic supply chains, workforce development, investment, and state leadership can support deployment at scale. John Wagner, Laboratory Director at INL, is a featured speaker; the opening plenary also includes U.S. NRC Commissioners Douglas Weaver and Bradley Crowell. The technical program features expert-led presentations and peer-reviewed research on advanced reactors, fuel cycle and waste management, reactor physics, fusion, AI and machine learning, materials science, instrumentation and controls, criticality safety, and robotics. Named session topics include nuclear energy markets, financing and economics; hybrid and integrated energy systems; maritime and data center applications; nuclear safeguards; cybersecurity; molten salt reactor fuels and materials; and advanced/additive manufacturing. Panels address uranium mining remediation, environmental review, digital twins, advanced reactor fuel supply and fabrication, and nuclear deployment pathways.

Hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy’s Thermal Energy Recovery & Management Center of Excellence, the workshop focuses on testing, validation, integration, and deployment of high-temperature heat pumps across technology readiness levels. Plenary topics include the U.S. industrial heat-pump landscape, market pathways, technology readiness, economics, deployment pathways, technology advances, R&D priorities, demonstrations, and deployment lessons. Breakout discussions cover OEM roadmaps and product readiness; working fluids, compressors, component supply chains, advanced heat exchangers, and system integration; end-user needs, controls, thermal storage, and grid flexibility; and standards, codes, testing, certification, financing, commercialization, and public-private partnerships. Report-outs and a facilitated discussion address priority needs, gaps, and recommended actions, followed by workshop synthesis on cross-cutting R&D, demonstration, deployment, and partnership priorities.

The conference covers four technical tracks: SR-1 and spacecraft reactors, including reactor physics, fuels and materials, power conversion, thermal management, controls, testing and civil, commercial, defense, and science mission applications; LR-1 and planetary surface reactors, including lunar and Mars power architectures, deployment, power distribution, and integration with habitats, mobility, ISRU, and science payloads; Dragonfly and radioisotope power systems, including isotope production, fuel fabrication, testing, safety, and mission operations; and building the space nuclear industrial base, including infrastructure, manufacturing and qualification supply chains, regulatory frameworks, safety, standards, workforce, and industrial partnerships. Special programming includes the 2nd Workshop for Fission Instrumentation and Controls for Space, on sensors, actuators, software, and conditioning electronics, and a special session on innovative spacecraft structures and thermal systems for nuclear propulsion and power, including deployable assemblies, vehicle aggregation, in-space assembly, and mission flexibility. Accepted and presented papers and abstracts will be published in the conference proceedings. Submissions are evaluated for originality, methodological rigor, quality of results, and scientific impact.

The conference covers radioactive-material management and nuclear-facility decommissioning. Its 12 tracks include crosscutting policies and programs; high- and low-level radioactive waste, spent fuel, and long-lived alpha/transuranic waste; nuclear power plant waste and on-site spent-fuel storage; packaging and transportation; decontamination and decommissioning; environmental remediation; communications and workforce; and advanced reactors and fusion. The program highlights the United Kingdom’s nuclear-sector developments, including waste management and decommissioning for legacy sites, new nuclear capacity, small modular reactors, and advanced nuclear deployment. The featured U.S. Department of Energy site, Savannah River Site, focuses on tank waste cleanup, nuclear materials processing, advanced manufacturing, AI, and applied research and development, as well as partnerships among government, contractors, regulators, stakeholders, and surrounding communities.

The program brings together energy, industrial transformation, and advanced manufacturing, with cross-cutting themes of workforce development, standards, finance, AI and digital transformation, policy, and resilience planning. Roundtables, workshops, and demos are designed to address tradeoffs involving affordability, risk, standardization, and deployment speed. Program tracks include Powering Growth, with sample sessions on data-center power and cooling, new nuclear deployment, solar cost reduction, and scaling geothermal; Industry Reimagined, covering industrial heat electrification, next-generation steel, and EPC project-delivery costs and risks; Next-Gen Manufacturing, addressing hardware investment and bankability, additive manufacturing, and sustainability tradeoffs in product design; and Future Workforce, on nuclear workforce readiness, apprenticeships, and aligning training programs with real projects. Additional sessions are in development in areas including energy storage, fusion, industrial efficiency, critical minerals, and sustainability tradeoffs. The listed sessions are samples and subject to change.

An intensive workshop on projected electricity demand and expanding the supply of natural resources used to generate power. Topics include natural gas, geothermal development and repurposing oil and gas assets; hydrogen, uranium, lithium and critical minerals; and water, environmental, storage, site-selection and regulatory considerations. Program discussions cover grid shortfalls and raw materials for electricity generation, solutions for increasing electricity supply, geothermal, and technology including ORC, sensors and small nuclear reactors. Other sessions address AI prompts for grid and behind-the-meter planning; lithium direct lithium extraction (DLE) and hydrogen technologies; regulatory and legislative factors affecting geothermal, critical minerals, low-carbon energy, grids and data centers; and mining and oil-and-gas intersections, including near-surface imaging and copper for electricity transmission. The program also includes an AI prompt clinic focused on water, the environment, science and regulations.

The meeting spans materials science research in quantum materials, energy and sustainability, semiconductors, nanomaterials, soft materials and biomaterials, and structural and functional materials. Symposia address sustainable materials chemistry and processing for lithium and earth-abundant batteries; sodium-ion storage; materials, characterization and manufacturing for solid-state batteries; next-generation EV battery materials; hydrogen storage and transmission; and electrochemical conversion of CO₂ and nitrogen compounds into sustainable products. Other topics include AI-driven materials design and autonomous science, chiplet architectures, 2D materials for microelectronics and neuromorphic computing, additive manufacturing across length scales, high-entropy materials, and resilient materials for fission and fusion reactors. Featured programming includes a plenary on critical elements from urban mines and decarbonization of the metal sectors, a keynote on progress and challenges toward an inertial fusion energy future, and sessions on bioelectronics translation and silicon photonics, optical connectivity, sensing, data centers and commercialization.

The technical program solicits new, significant work relevant to the nuclear industry, with summaries and abstracts presented orally. Topics include advanced reactors and power systems; energy storage integration with nuclear plants; fusion; nuclear fuel recycling, waste forms, transmutation and disposal; AI applications in nuclear safety and materials research; nuclear nonproliferation; advanced and additive manufacturing; and thermal hydraulics. Embedded topics include Decommissioning Environmental Sciences and Remote Technology, covering robotics and remote systems, decommissioning, environmental remediation, nuclear cleanup, used-fuel management, and related AI, digital-twin and regulatory topics. Accelerator Applications covers accelerator facilities and design, nuclear data, materials science, medical and industrial applications, security and forensics, and environmental studies. Accepted and presented summaries are slated for publication in ANS Transactions.