Molten Salt Reactors GIF provisional System Steering Committee
The provisional System Steering Committee for Molten Salt Reactors (MSR pSSC) was intially established after the MSR Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2010. A new MSR MoU has been opened for signatures under the new 2025 GIF Framework Agreement. Once three signatures are gathered it will for the new GIF MSR pSSC. This committee goal is to explore a broad range of topics related to Molten Salt Reactors.
Molten Salt Reactor designs were investigated during the nascent stages of nuclear power and were even considered for airborne nuclear propulsion in the United States during the 1950s. The wide array of concepts falling under this technology is quite revolutionary approach when compared to the current generation II and III reactors. Despite the fact that nuclear-powered aircraft did not become a reality and no commercial-scale MSR has been operated yet, this technology holds considerable promises, including in the area of radioactive waste reduction and alternative fuel cycles. Several MSR concepts are currently under active development globally.
DISCLAIMER: The entry into force of the 2025 GIF Framework Agreement on 1st March 2025 brings changes to the GIF membership. The website will be updated in due course to reflect these changes.
Activities and Membership of the Molten Salt Reactor GIF provisional System Steering Committee
Five countries and one international organisation are invited to join the GIF MSR pSSC by signing the GIF MSR MoU under the GIF 2025 Framework Agreement. To enter into force the MSR MoU need to have three signatories. As it will be established under an MoU it will not have full fledged R&D projects, similarly to the MSR MoU under the expired 2005 GIF Framework Agreement.
The countries that have signed the MoU as of October 2025 are:
And those invited to sign, or in the case of Korea, having expressed interest to join once the MoU enters into force are:
If you want to learn more about the Molten Salt Reactor technology head to the MSR System description page. If you want to learn more about the latest outcomes and international efforts carried out under the GIF MSR pSSC please refer to the latest GIF Annual Report.
Signatories to the MoU establishing the GIF Molten Salt Reactors provisional System Steering Committee (MSR pSSC) | ||
|---|---|---|
Partners | Participation under the expired GIF 2005 FA | Participation under the current GIF 2025 FA |
ANSTO (Australia) | December 2017 - February 2025 | Invited to sign |
Terrestrial En. (Canada) | April 2019 - February 2025 | Invited to sign |
JRC (Euratom) | October 2010 - February 2025 | Invited to sign |
CEA (France) | October 2010 - February 2025 | Signed |
ROSATOM (Russian Federation) | November 2011 - February 2025 | Not invited to sign |
PSI (Switzerland) | November 2015 - February 2025 | Signed |
DOE (USA) | January 2017 - February 2025 | Invited to sign |
MSR pSSC Leadership & Technical Secretariat
Dr
Jiri KREPEL
Dr Jiri Krepel is a senior scientist in Advanced Nuclear Systems group of Laboratory for Scientific Computing at PSI Center for Scientific Computing, Theory and Data in Switzerland. He earned his PhD in 2006 at the Czech Technical University in Prague / Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Germany for his thesis entitled “Dynamics of Molten Salt Reactors”. Dr Krepel is the coordinator of the PSI MSR research at Paul Scherrer Institut and responsible for fuel cycle analysis and related safety parameters of Gen IV reactors. He is also the chairman of the Steering Committee of GIF MSR project and co-developer of the IAEA MSR taxonomy. Dr Krepel has experience in the neutronics of liquid-metal and gas-cooled fast reactors and in neutronics and transient analysis of thermal and fast MSRs.
Dr
Victor V. IGNATIEV
Dr
Franco MICHEL-SENDIS
Dr. Franco Michel-Sendis is a Nuclear Technology and Fuel Cycle Specialist at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), where he has served since 2010. Throughout his career, he has led and coordinated international initiatives in uranium resources, nuclear fuel cycles, nuclear data, and nuclear criticality safety, while also serving as the scientific secretariat to several system steering committees for the Generation IV International Forum. A dual national of France and Mexico, Franco has dedicated his academic and professional life to nuclear science. He holds a PhD in Nuclear Reactor Physics from the University of Paris-Saclay, where his research focused on advanced nuclear fuel cycles, along with advanced degrees from École Polytechnique and the Sorbonne. Franco is deeply interested in, and committed to, bridging the gap between science and policy, particularly in the field of innovative nuclear technologies.