Turkey and Danish Developer Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Thorium-Based Molten Salt Reactor Research

On September 9, 2026, the Turkish Ministry of Energy stated that the Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mining Research Institute (TENMAK) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Danish advanced reactor developer Copenhagen Atomics (CA), under which the two parties will conduct collaborative research on the application of thorium as a potential nuclear fuel for molten salt reactors.

Tenmak and Copenhagen Atomics signed the memorandum of understanding on September 7. Photo courtesy of the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources

The Turkish Ministry of Energy stated that the cooperation aims to advance research in areas related to thorium as a potential fuel for nuclear reactors, with a focus on assessing Turkey's capacity to produce thorium compounds using domestic resources.

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan·Bayraktar stated that Turkey is rich in thorium resources, making the related technology of particular significance and expected to reduce the country's dependence on external sources in the field of nuclear fuel. He expressed hope that the cooperation will achieve results and promote the future transformation of the related research into commercially viable products.

Thorium is widely distributed globally, with greater resource abundance than uranium, which is commonly used as fuel in traditional nuclear reactors. Copenhagen Atomics is developing a modular, containerized thorium-based molten salt reactor, designed to achieve mass manufacturing and large-scale deployment, with a single module capable of providing 100 megawatts of thermal power.

Turkey is building the country's first nuclear power plant, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. The project uses four Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurized water reactor units supplied by Russia. According to Turkey's plan, by 2050, the country's nuclear power installed capacity will reach 20,000 megawatts, of which at least 5,000 megawatts will come from small modular reactors.