microreactors

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 […]

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has selected the five commercial teams that will potentially demonstrate advanced applications—including data center integration—at its much-watched Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) platform, an 85-kWth/20-kWe liquid-metal-cooled test bed currently under construction at the lab. The initial selections, unveiled on Dec. 4, mark the “first potential end users for MARVEL,” […]

Advanced nuclear technology company Oklo entered into two separate high-profile collaborative agreements this week that seek to supply integrated energy solutions to data centers and large load industrial operations. The alliances—one with Liberty Energy, an energy services and technologies firm, and another with critical digital infrastructure provider Vertiv—mark the newest notch in the growing market […]

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. […]

In a new pilot program, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an ambitious challenge: bring at least three advanced nuclear test reactors to criticality by July 4, 2026. Announced in June, the program sidesteps traditional Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing, seeking instead to authorize full-scale reactors on private sites through DOE’s internal review process. […]

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), […]

The U.S. Air Force has formally reaffirmed its selection of Oklo’s liquid metal-cooled fast reactor to provide nuclear energy at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, re-issuing a Notice of Intent to Award (NOITA) for the company’s Aurora Powerhouse following a comprehensive evaluation process. The June 10 announcement, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency Energy […]

Advanced nuclear plant developer Last Energy will build 30 microreactors at a site in Haskell County, Texas, a measure aimed at meeting the growing power demands of data centers across the state. The development comes as Texas faces increasing pressure to ramp up its power supplies to address an expansion of energy-intensive industries. The Washington […]

The need for emissions-free power generation, along with the ability to provide more power when and where it’s needed, is driving research and development of smaller nuclear reactors. Energy industry

While the past year has marked stunning triumphs for nuclear energy, experts caution that high costs, regulatory bottlenecks, and the need for market alignment remain major hurdles on the path to a true

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 […]

Pennsylvania has been a hotspot for nuclear power since the advent of commercial nuclear power, which it pioneered with first power from the 60-MW Shippingport Atomic Power Station near Pittsburgh in 1957.   Today, the state, the second-largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., hosts eight operating reactors. These include Constellation’s 2.77-GW Peach Bottom Atomic […]

BWXT Technologies has won a contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to evaluate options for deploying a centrifuge pilot plant that could establish a new domestic uranium enrichment capability suitable for national security purposes. The Lynchburg, Virginia–based company on Aug. 26 said the NNSA contract would kick off a yearlong engineering study as […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has directed its staff to publish a proposed rule and draft guidance to create Part 53, a much-awaited risk-informed and technology-inclusive licensing framework geared toward advanced technologies, including non-light-water-reactors (non-LWRs). In a staff requirements memorandum (SRM) made public on March 4, the commission directed staff to incorporate several changes to […]

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has formally kicked off a pioneering project to partly re-power its 85-MW Abbott cogeneration plant with an Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) Energy System. UIUC on June 28 said it submitted a letter of intent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build […]

Marking the first time a utility has taken an ownership stake in a small modular reactor (SMR) project, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) formed a joint venture with Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) to build, own, and operate a proposed Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) demonstration at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) site in Ontario, Canada.  […]

To propel interest and bolster development of advanced nuclear reactor designs, the Department of Energy (DOE) will demonstrate—by October 2020—the production of high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel in a first-of-its-kind $115 million project at the agency’s uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.  HALEU is nuclear fuel that is enriched to a higher degree […]