Worth noting that this is not really unique to this reactor, and the technology has been around for a while (including multiple basically fully functional demonstration reactors that were actually built, though they weren't without their technical issues). NuScale's design for example, which is a very different design and also much closer to commercial rollout, has a similar greatly reduced need for a large exclusion zone (https://www.nei.org/news/2018/nrc-staff-agrees-smrs-wont-nee...).
This article is reporting on what amounts to a paper reactor design, which is really only like 0.1% of the effort required to actually build. There are plenty of good design concepts for new and fancy reactors, but the business, regulatory, and PR side is where the challenges really lie. But this general technology is a big deal in the nuclear industry right now and it seems increasingly likely that they might finally build some fully functional plants. Strictly speaking they are actively building some MSR plants, but given the not great track record of actually completing new nuclear plants I will remain pessimistic until they are ready to go critical.
This article is reporting on what amounts to a paper reactor design, which is really only like 0.1% of the effort required to actually build. There are plenty of good design concepts for new and fancy reactors, but the business, regulatory, and PR side is where the challenges really lie. But this general technology is a big deal in the nuclear industry right now and it seems increasingly likely that they might finally build some fully functional plants. Strictly speaking they are actively building some MSR plants, but given the not great track record of actually completing new nuclear plants I will remain pessimistic until they are ready to go critical.