MSR Waste Management Patent Snapshot 2026
The molten-salt reactor waste management patent space is small and sharply concentrated: 26 patent families are on file globally, with Metatomic Inc and TerraPower LLC together accounting for the majority of activity. The field has plateaued near its 2017 peak, signalling that foundational positions are largely staked while process-chemistry sub-branches remain open.
Metatomic leads a tightly held, nascent field
Metatomic Inc holds the top-ranked position with 13 patent records, nearly twice the output of the second-ranked TerraPower LLC at 8 patent records, establishing a clear first-tier leader in MSR waste management.
The top five filers together account for 82% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total, indicating an unusually concentrated visible assignee structure for an emerging energy-technology niche. The gap between first and third tier is wide: individual inventors and academic institutions fill the lower ranks with single-digit counts.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metatomic Inc | 13 | |
| 2 | TerraPower LLC | 8 | |
| 3 | Ian Richard Scott | 5 | |
| 4 | Ian Richard Scott | 3 | |
| 5 | United States Department of Energy | 2 | |
| 6 | Board of Regents, The University of Texas System | 2 | |
| 7 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 2 | |
| 8 | China Institute for Radiation Protection | 1 | |
| 9 | Leonard E. McNeese | 1 | |
| 10 | Charles D. Scott | 1 |
Metatomic’s lead reflects a deliberate IP build-out around molten nuclear fuel salts and reactor-integrated processing, while TerraPower’s position reinforces that well-capitalised advanced-reactor developers see waste processing as a core design requirement rather than a peripheral concern.
Patent records filed in the most recent 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and may be under-counted; the 2024–2026 data should be treated as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity plateaued after a 2017 peak; reactor-integrated processing dominates the technology mix
The annual filing trend and IPC technology composition together show a field that burst into activity in 2017 and has since settled into low, irregular annual volumes, while the technology mix remains anchored in G21C reactor-system claims.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked at 8 records in 2017, then dropped sharply before stabilising in the 2–4 records-per-year range from 2019 onward. The 2024 dip to 1 record and the 2026 zero reading reflect publication lag and should not be read as a further slowdown; the 2025 reading of 4 records suggests continued, if modest, activity.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
G21C (Nuclear reactors) is visible in with 34 records, reflecting that most waste-management claims are embedded in reactor-system patents rather than filed as standalone process inventions. C01G (Compounds of other metals, principally actinide chemistry) and G21F (Radiation protection and shielding) each contribute 10 records, marking them as secondary but meaningful branches. Electrolytic and separation branches — C25C, C22B, B01D — together account for fewer than 10 records, indicating process-chemistry claims are sparse relative to the system-level work.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Systems and methods for fast molten salt reactor f…
The present disclosure provides systems and methods for fast molten salt reactor fuel-salt preparation. In one implementation, the method may comprise providing fuel assemblies having fuel pellets, removing the fuel pellets and spent fuel constituents from the fuel assemblies, granulating the removed fuel pellets or process feed to a chlorination process… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Molten nuclear fuel salts and related systems and … | 81 |
| 2 | Nuclear fuel salts | 46 |
| 3 | Nuclear materials processing | 44 |
| 4 | Conversion of spent uranium oxide fuel into molten… | 21 |
| 5 | Method for preparing high purity 233 uranium | 13 |
| 6 | Fuel recycle system in a molten salt reactor | 6 |
| 7 | Systems and methods for fast molten salt reactor f… | 5 |
| 8 | Conversion of spent uranium oxide fuel into molten… | 4 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Metatomic Inc
Metatomic Inc holds 13 patent records — the largest block in this corpus — focused primarily on G21C 19 (nuclear reactor processing, 10 records), C01G 43 (actinide compound chemistry, 8 records), and G21C 3 (reactor fuel systems, 6 records). Its momentum is flagged as a new entrant with 6 recent-year records, indicating that most of its portfolio has been built in the current filing window rather than carried from earlier activity.
families: 13TerraPower LLC
TerraPower LLC holds 8 patent records distributed evenly across G21C 1 (reactor concept, 8 records), G21C 19 (processing, 8 records), and G21C 3 (fuel systems, 5 records), reflecting a broad reactor-system approach rather than a chemistry-first strategy. No momentum flag is recorded for TerraPower in the recent-window data, suggesting its filing pace has been more steady than sharply accelerating.
families: 8Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 26 patent families in scope globally. It is a small, specialised field relative to broader advanced reactor or nuclear-fuel-cycle patent spaces.
Metatomic Inc holds the top position with 13 patent records, followed by TerraPower LLC with 8. Together they represent the visible commercial players in this space.
Annual filings have plateaued near their 2017 peak; the lifecycle stage is best characterised as maturity rather than active growth or decline. Recent data for 2024–2026 is subject to publication lag and should be treated as provisional.
The United States leads with 18 patent records. Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) each have 5 records, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom with 4 each, and China with 1.
No co-applicant arrangements are detected in the corpus. All active filers appear to be prosecuting intellectual property independently.
C22B (metal extraction and refining) has only 2 patent records, and B01D (separation processes), C04B (ceramics and refractories), and C25D (electroplating) each have just 1 record. These process-chemistry and materials branches are sparsely covered relative to the visible G21C reactor-system class.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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