Idaho National Laboratory

Project Pele, the Department of War’s (DOW’s) first-of-its-kind transportable nuclear microreactor prototype, has received its tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where formal system testing is slated to begin as early as 2027. The fuel—manufactured by BWXT Technologies (BWXT) and shipped from its Lynchburg, Virginia, facility—represents the first TRISO microreactor fuel […]

China’s Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) in November reported it had achieved thorium-to-uranium fuel conversion inside an operating molten salt reactor (MSR). The milestone provides the first

Over nearly five decades, nuclear waste has been treated as an intractable problem, locked in dry casks, relegated to repositories that are slow to materialize, and generally viewed as a costly liability

Nuclear microreactors developed separately by Westinghouse and Radiant are poised to become the first fueled designs tested at the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) facility—the world’s first dedicated microreactor test bed slated to open at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in early 2026. The first fueled experiment is expected to begin as early as spring 2026. […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is inviting private-sector nuclear developers to submit proposals for experiments and demonstrations using its Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) project. The first-of-its-kind operational test bed for advanced microreactor technologies is now 90% through its final design phase, with key components already under fabrication. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), […]

Advanced nuclear developer Oklo announced it has successfully completed borehole drilling for site characterization work at its Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site, marking a pivotal milestone as the company progresses toward constructing its first commercial Aurora Powerhouse—a liquid sodium–cooled fast reactor designed for scalable deployment. The standard nuclear project development step, involved “drilling of several […]

Advanced nuclear firm Oklo has signed an Interface Agreement (IAG) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), marking a key regulatory milestone in the siting and environmental review of its first commercial Aurora powerhouse—a compact passive fast-spectrum reactor—targeted for deployment at INL by late 2027. The IAG with INL—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-owned and funded national […]

In 2023, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Idaho State University unveiled the industry’s first near real-time digital twin of a nuclear reactor. The virtual replica of the 5-Wth AGN-201 research reactor

Microreactors are a class of very small modular reactors targeted for non-conventional nuclear markets. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supports a variety of advanced reactor designs, including gas, liquid-metal, molten-salt, and heat-pipe-cooled concepts. In the U.S., microreactor developers are currently focused on designs that could be deployed as early as the mid-2020s. The key […]

Decarbonization of power generation and other industrial sectors relies on hydrogen, and a Bloom Energy demonstration project is supporting the fuel’s production through an advanced electrolyzer system. The