Nuclear Power Turns To Salt (Gen IV reactor design moves forward)

[FBaggins]

2. Certainly for electricity generation

Fuel alternatives are tougher unless you effectively electrify most transportation options... but that doesn't mean that something like this can't help with traditional fuels as well.

For instance, one of the advantages of this specific design is that it operates at a much higher temperature (which means that it doesn't need to be pressurized and is more efficient at converting heat to electricity (probably 50%+ instead of ~33% for current reactors). This higher temperature (combined with the much smaller size) allows them to be installed closer to the point of use, but also allows them to be installed so that their waste heat can supply process heat to industrial processes. So instead of burning tar sands up in canada to cook out the liquids... you could use one of these.

They could also make seawater desalination a bit easier.