Molten Salt Reactor Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Molten Salt Reactor Patents: Mapping the Leaders and the Open Ground
One assignee holds 42 of 145 records while the top five combined reach 65.5% of all records in scope — concentration sits hard at the top, not spread across the field. Filings peaked at 15 in 2017, fell back, then climbed from 1 in 2021 to 12 in 2024 — a +1100% increase over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in due to publication lag, so treat the recent uptick as a floor, not a ceiling.
- 1TERRAPOWER LLC42
- 2TRANSATOMIC POWER CORP24
- 3SHANGHAI INSTITUTE OF APPLIED PHYSICS CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES14
- 4ACAD SINICA8
- 5SHU FR H7
See the full molten salt reactor technology analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about molten salt reactor patents
Who holds the most molten salt reactor patents?
One assignee leads the ranked field with 42 of the 145 records in scope, far ahead of the fifth-ranked holder at 7 records. The top five assignees combined account for 65.5% of all records, and the top ten reach 82.1%. This means the field is concentrated at the top, with a long tail of smaller filers, universities and national labs holding single-digit counts.
Is molten salt reactor patent filing increasing or slowing down?
Filings rose sharply from 1 in 2021 to 12 in 2024, a +1100% increase over that span, following an earlier peak of 15 filings in 2017. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent drop-off in 2025 and 2026 reflects incomplete data rather than a real slowdown. The 2017-to-2024 pattern of a lull followed by renewed growth is the more reliable read.
What technology areas do molten salt reactor patents cover?
The overwhelming majority, 80.7% of the 145 records, carry a G21C nuclear-reactor classification, meaning most claims address reactor architecture directly. Materials-related classes are much thinner: alloys (C22C) appear in 11.0% of records, radiation shielding (G21F) in 9.7%, and coatings (C23C) in just 4.8%. A single record can carry multiple IPC classes, so these percentages add up to more than 100%.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Molten Salt Reactor Technology covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.