DOE awards funding to research teams for its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced funding awards to three different research teams through its new Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP).

ARDP is designed to help private industry demonstrate advanced nuclear reactors in the United States. The DOE expects to invest approximately $56 million over four years through this ongoing program. The goal of the program is to assist the progression of advanced reactor designs in their earliest phases. In this phase, three research teams will receive funding.

“ARDP is significant because it will enable a market for commercial reactors that are safe and affordable to both construct and operate in the near- and mid-term,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette said. “All three programs under ARDP pave the way for the United States to be highly competitive globally.”

One of the recipients is Advanced Reactor Concepts of Herndon, Va., for its Inherently Safe Advanced SMR for American Nuclear Leadership. The team will deliver a conceptual design of a seismically isolated advanced sodium-cooled reactor facility that builds upon the initial pre-conceptual design of a 100 MWe reactor facility. Advanced Reactor Concepts will receive $34.4 million over four years.

Another is General Atomics of San Diego, Calif., for its Fast Modular Reactor Conceptual Design. This team will develop a fast modular reactor conceptual design with verifications of key metrics in fuel, safety, and operational performance. The design will be for a 50-megawatt electric (MWe) fast modular reactor (FMR). The award is $31.1 million over three years.

The third is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., for its Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor. The team will mature the Modular Integrated Gas-Cooled High Temperature Reactor (MIGHTR) concept from a pre-conceptual stage to a conceptual stage to support commercialization. This award is $4.9 million over three years.