DOE awards $160M to two teams seeking to demonstrate advanced nuclear reactors
In an effort to spur the private industry to demonstrate advanced nuclear reactors in the United States, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $160 million in initial funding through its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to two teams.
This initial funding will support TerraPower LLC and X-energy, with $80 million given to each. With that money, they will build two advanced nuclear reactors capable of operation within two years, with the end goal of getting them licensed for commercial operations. TerraPower will demonstrate a sodium-cooled fast reactor known as the Natrium reactor. X-energy will provide a commercial, four-unit nuclear power plant based on a high temperature gas-cooled reactor known as Xe-100.
“The awards are the first step of a new program that will strengthen American leadership in the next generation of nuclear technologies,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette said. “These partnerships will help maximize DOE’s investment in advanced reactors, which play a vital role in our clean energy strategy.”
The Natrium reactor will be developed in conjunction between TerraPower and GE-Hitachi. It will provide a high-operating temperature supported by thermal energy storage to provide flexible electricity output. That project will also yield a new metal fuel fabrication facility. As to X-energy’s plant, use will be pursued for a wide range of industrial heat applications, and the project will also produce a commercial scale TRi-structural ISOtropic particle fuel (TRISO) fuel fabrication facility for robust fuel.
The DOE intends to invest as much as $3.2 billion into advanced reactors over seven years.
