Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will assist with two projects to develop advanced nuclear reactor technologies with funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the lab said late last week.
One of the projects involves further development of fuel pebbles that would be utilized by the Xe-100 Pebble Bed Advanced Reactor currently being developed by X-energy. ORNL said this reactor is likely to serve commercial and civil needs with advancements in safety and a small operational footprint.
The lab will be focused on developing spherical fuel assemblies that will contain particle fuel.
The second project, led by Southern Company Services, involves the development of molten chloride fast reactors (MCFR). ORNL said this concept has the potential to improve operations and can facilitate increases in safety and security measures.
Technical support from ORNL will be focused in areas relating to safety assessments, licensing, fabrication and the overall development of reactor systems and other associated technology.
Companies and academic institutions associated with both projects include: the Electric Power Research Institute of Vanderbilt University, TerraPower, Oregon State University, BWX Technologies, Idaho National Laboratory, SGL Group and Teledyne-Brown Engineering.
