ACU NUCLEAR SALT REACTOR: Tackling water & energy issues while advancing cancer treatment

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – When most of us think of nuclear power, we often recall the negative aspects associated with this type of energy. However, Abilene Christian University is striving to change that perception with its molten salt research reactor. They are exploring research avenues such as water desalination, clean energy production, and cancer treatments, all in the hopes of advancing technology and medicine.

Earlier this week, Abilene Christian University revealed a partnership with Texas Tech University and Natura Resources to deploy Natura’s molten salt reactor (MSR). The goal of this collaboration is to combine MSR technology with water desalination and energy production systems, tackling the energy and water challenges faced by Texas.

ACU’s plans for the Natura MSR-1, a liquid-fueled molten salt reactor, began several years ago. In 2022, they initiated the application process to gain approval for a molten salt research reactor. Currently, the reactor is still under construction at ACU’s NEXT Lab and will be used for experiments aimed at advancing technology and medicine.

Director of ACU’s NEXT Lab, Dr. Rusty Towell, shared how this reactor can also produce clean water while producing electricity.

“If you have dirty water to clean it, just needs energy. You can, of course, boil it off,” Towell explained. “We can actually use the waste heat from water reactors, the leftover heat that’s normally just rejected to the air. We can use that to clean water. So while we produce electricity, we can also produce clean water.”

While water purification is important, especially here in Texas with our water supplies, this lab also has another purpose: utilizing radioactive isotopes for medical research to fight cancer. Towell explained how radioisotopes produced by the reactor can be used to specifically target and rapidly eliminate cancer cells.

“Those radioisotopes are produced basically in the core of stars and the core of nuclear reactors, but they only last for a few hours or days, maybe,” Towell shared. “So how do you get them from those locations where they’re made in the doctor’s hands? This technology will allow us to do that. We’re working on producing the raw materials that doctors need for these new treatments.”

The research reactor is one of only two reactors of its kind in the nation.