The Department of Energy said Thursday the 13-month testing campaign is part of X-energy’s efforts to establish the country’s first commercial advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility to advance the deployment of its small modular reactor design, Xe-100, and other commercial reactors.
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Why Is TRISO-X Testing at INL Important for Advanced Nuclear Energy?
According to DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy, the experiments will evaluate how the company’s fuel performs under a range of power levels, burnup conditions and temperatures.
“TRISO-X embodies decades of U.S. innovation in fuel design and this testing program brings us one step closer to redefining the standard for safety and reliability in nuclear energy,” said X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell.
This marks the first time that TRISO-X fuel pebbles have undergone irradiation testing in a U.S. facility. TRISO-X, a specialized version of TRISO fuel, consists of uranium, carbon and oxygen fuel kernels encapsulated by multiple layers of carbon- and ceramic-based materials. This structure prevents the release of radioactive fission products and allows the fuel to withstand extreme heat and radiation.
“The experiment cycle that started at INL’s Advanced Test Reactor is a huge one for supporters of advanced nuclear,” said Dan Wachs, national technical director for DOE’s Advanced Fuels Campaign. “The test marks INL’s first irradiations of TRISO fuel for advanced reactors since 2020 and the first use a new lead-out test capability at ATR that makes these advanced fuel tests possible.”
What’s Next for TRISO-X?
Once irradiation testing at INL is complete, post-irradiation examinations will commence at INL and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
X-energy is also building the TX-1 fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which could be the first advanced nuclear fuel plant licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in over 50 years.
According to DOE, the first Xe-100 reactors will be constructed at Dow’s Seadrift, Texas-based manufacturing site, potentially becoming the first grid-scale advanced reactors to provide both electricity and high-temperature heat for industrial operations.
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