This lab will allow students to help research Molten salt-cooled liquid fuel reactors. Director of NEXT lab Rusty Towell this type of hands-on work is an amazing opportunity, "They’re getting experience doing world-class research with world-class facilities, working with a Christian mentor. And so, that's for me, that was a life-changing experience as a student. To take what you learned in a classroom and put it into practice in the lab.”
Towell said he sees a parallel between the project’s method of adding salt to the melting pot, and the melting pot of different majors collaborating on it, "And so we have faculty and students from, you know, chemistry and biochemistry and engineering and physics and computer science all working together. So, it’s a joy to be a part of that collaborative effort, solving problems that you know is going to bless the world.”
The next step in bringing the realtor to life is to obtain approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction. The project is currently under review by the commission. The lab’s administrators are optimistic that construction could begin as early as May of 2024.