The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the first selections for a new pathway for the testing of advanced nuclear reactors.
Last June, DOE opened application for testing such technologies outside of national laboratories using the federal authorization process. The program is called the Reactor Pilot Program.
“DOE will work with industry on these 11 projects, with the goal to construct, operate and achieve criticality of at least three test reactors using the DOE authorization process by July 4, 2026”, the agency said in a statement on its website.
“Today’s initial selections represent an important step toward streamlining nuclear reactor testing and unleash a new pathway toward fast-tracking commercial licensing activities”.
The selected companies are Aalo Atomics Inc., Antares Nuclear Inc., Atomic Alchemy Inc., Deep Fission Inc., Last Energy Inc., Natura Resources LLC, Oklo Inc., Radiant Industries Inc., Terrestrial Energy Inc. and Valar Atomics Inc.
“The diversity of applications received shows the remarkable breath of innovation and ingenuity in American reactor developers”, DOE said.
“Each company will be responsible for all costs associated with designing, manufacturing, constructing, operating and decommissioning their test reactors”.
The pilot implements an order issued by President Donald Trump May 23 that seeks to reform the national lab process for reactor testing, establish a pilot program for reactor construction and operation outside of national labs and streamline environmental reviews for reactor facilities. The White House order aims to have at least three advanced reactors achieve “criticality” by July 2026.
Under U.S. law, advanced nuclear reactors include fusion reactors or radioisotope power systems that use heat from radioactive decay to generate energy. Nuclear fission reactors may also be considered advanced reactors if they provide significant improvements compared to reactors operating as of 2020, according to Title 42 Section 16271(b)(1) of the U.S. Code.
Last week DOE said it has conditionally selected Standard Nuclear Inc. for the pilot program for producing nuclear fuel, aimed at supporting the Reactor Pilot Program.
“Standard Nuclear (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) is the first conditional selection under DOE’s new pilot program and will leverage the department’s authorization process to ensure a robust supply of nuclear fuel in both Tennessee and Idaho”, DOE said in a press release August 4.
Standard Nuclear says it owns commercial-scale facilities covering 19,000 square feet on its 36.8-acre campus at the former K-25 Nuclear site in Oak Ridge. The company says its fully permitted radiological facilities make and supply TRISO (tristructural isotropic particle) fuel forms with different specifications for commercial and government customers.
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