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    NRC reviewing construction permit application for 35-MW Small Nuclear Demonstration Project

    Dec. 2, 2021
    The reactor would use molten salt to cool the reactor core and provide operational data to support eventual development of a larger version. The Idaho National Laboratory also is looking into the potential of small nuclear for net-zero microgrids
    Illustration credit Kairos Power
    Kairos Updated 0000 61a924fd01cbc

    By Rod Walton, EnergyTech Senior Editor

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission confirmed it will review a permit application to build a low-power small nuclear reactor demonstration plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

    The NRC accepted Kairos Power’s construction permit application for the Hermes low-power demonstration reactor project. The 35-MW, non-power reactor would use molten salt to cool the reactor core and provide operational data to support eventual development of a larger version for a commercial nuclear power plant.

    The Idaho National Laboratory also is looking into the potential for small nuclear reactors to provide power for zero-carbon microgrids in the future. In the Tennessee case, the Hermes demonstration reactor would be built at the East Tennesse Park Heritage Center site in Oak Ridge.

    Kairos will be required to submit a separate application for a future operating license, but certainly viewed the NRC review as a positive move forward.

    Related story: Is Micro-Nuclear an Option for Net-Zero Microgrids?

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    “This licensing milestone represents a significant achievement, concluding a tremendous cross-functional effort by the Kairos Power team to complete the application just 18 months after the decision to build the Hermes reactor was made,” Mike Laufer, Kairos Power co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “We are incredibly proud of our team’s commitment to achieving this goal in such a short time. This licensing effort, in combination with our ongoing technology development and manufacturing programs, will lay the groundwork to prove that we can deliver cost certainty for commercial demonstration and deployment.”

    The construction permit application includes a preliminary safety analysis and environmental reports. The federal nuclear regulators now will start a detailed technical review of the permit application.

    Kairos Power is the recipient of a Department of Energy Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) award for risk reduction funding to support development, construction, and commissioning of Hermes in collaboration with its partners: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Materion Corporation, and the Electric Power Research Institute.

    This is a cost-shared partnership between the DOE and industry to demonstrate advanced nuclear technology in the U.S. The total award value over the next seven years is $629 million, with the DOE contributing $303 million.

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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