About us

About the foundation

The Thorium MSR Foundation (Stichting Thorium MSR) is the organization behind thmsr.nl and thmsr.com. Its aim is to educate people about the use of thorium in molten salt reactor technology, because we believe it can play a vital role in solving today’s energy problems. The Thorium MSR Foundation was established on January 29, 2016. 

According to the statutes of the Foundation, its goal is: a) to serve as a reliable source of information regarding nuclear technology in general and in particular the use of thorium in molten salt reactor, and b) to perform all further actions, that relate to or contribute to the aforementioned in the broadest sense.

The Foundation strives to realize its goal by using scientifically checked information, critical comparison of sources and maintaining a network of relevant scientists, developers and other experts, by participating in congresses, symposia, seminars and webinars and the like. The Foundation also wants to bring together initiatives in the field, make information on the subject broadly available, to be a platform for discussion, all in the broadest sense of the word.

About this website

Over the last decade, there has been a worldwide resurgence of interest in the use of thorium Molten Salt Reactors. Given its potential, the founders of the Thorium MSR Foundation think it is of paramount importance that there is a source where reliable, scientifically checked information can be found about these developments. The purpose of this website is to provide such information: factually accurate, objective, supported by credible sources, and made easy to understand. In a later stage, we hope to also offer an interactive platform for those who want to learn, to discuss and to participate.

Scientific council

The Foundation is assisted by a Scientific Council that thoroughly checks the information for scientific accuracy. Members of the council are: 

Prof.Dr.Ir Jan Leen Kloosterman is Head of the Section Reactor Physics and Nuclear Materials (RPNM), Delft Technical University
Prof. dr. Jilt Sietsma teaches Materials Science and Engineering at Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (3ME), Delft Technical University.
Ir. Sander de Groot works at the Nuclear Research and consulting Group (NRG), Petten and initiated the MSR program at NRG.
Dr. Ralph Hania is a nuclear fuel expert and chairs the molten salt reactor research at NRG in Petten.

The board

The board of the foundation has three members:
Gijs Zwartsenberg, Chairperson. Educated as a philosopher, and working as a trainer in clear thinking and writing for Your Point, he considers the world's energy problem as a thinking problem. Reading David MacKay's Sustainable Energy - without the hot air opened his eyes to the magnitude of the confusion. Kant's famous enlightenment motto 'dare to think' encouraged him to do his thinking. 
Kors Bos, Secretary. Dr. Kors Bos got his PhD in nuclear physics at the University of Amsterdam on atomic mass calculations. For the preparation of his thesis he spent time on the Nuclear Data Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After that he devoted his research to particle physics and did experiments at CERN in Geneva and Fermilab in Chicago. After his retirement he got interested again in nuclear physics and more particularly in nuclear energy.
Treasurer, Sylvia Barlag. Dr. Sylvia Barlag holds a PhD in Physics and worked and lived in Switzerland, France and Germany for several years. She was a member of the management board of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) until 1 February 2006. She worked as international Director Security, Quality and Business Improvement in the radar business line of the multinational company Thales until 2019. Currently she is a member of the Board of the Dutch National Physics Society NNV.

This website is a publication of the Stichting Thorium MSR

Comments or questions to mail@thmsr.com