Happy Birthday, America: Advanced Nuclear Reactors Achieve DOE Criticality Goals
One year ago, the U.S. Department of Energy started a new pilot program aimed at expediting testing of advanced and small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) designs. DOE eventually selected 10 companies to participate in the pilot with the pressurized goal of reaching criticality by the historically significant date of July 4.
All projects are not created equal. Two days shy of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration, the patriotic American can-do spirit has generated three companies which beat the intense deadline.
The latest is Deployable Energy, which achieved a zero-power criticality demonstration with its Unity reactor at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) earlier this week. The company joined previous criticality successes by Antares Nuclear and Valar Atomics through their Mark-0 and Ward 250 reactors, respectively.
“We are proud to be a part of this historic achievement, and I want to express Deployable Energy's gratitude to the administration for setting an audacious goal to have three reactors reach criticality before July 4th,” Deployable Energy co-founder and CEO Bobby Gallagher said in a statement.
Ramping up carbon-free and baseload power options
The DOE Nuclear Energy Launch Pad pilot was initiated last summer after President Trump’s executive orders on fast-tracking nuclear project development and streamlining regulatory processes. Nuclear energy provides carbon-free and baseload power capacity which can help meet future demand growth from digital infrastructure, automation technologies, transportation and industrial electrification.
“Last week, I had the opportunity to see the Unity demonstration reactor firsthand and meet with the talented teams from Deployable Energy, INL and DOE whose work made this historic moment possible on the eve of our nation's 250th anniversary,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said. “America’s nuclear renaissance is underway because of President Trump’s bold vision and ambitious goals. Yesterday, we accomplished a significant milestone on a timeline many thought was unachievable. Advanced nuclear technologies like Unity will help power the next generation of American industry, strengthen our energy security, and ensure the United States remains the world’s nuclear innovation leader.”
Utility-scale nuclear power currently delivers nearly 20% of American electricity resources, according to federal statistics. However, the cost and time in building conventional reactor projects has limited new development, with the Vogtle 3 and 4 expansions in Georgia as the only new U.S. reactor builds in the past decade.
And no SMR nuclear projects have been built or commissioned in the U.S. yet. The Trump DOE push is to create faster pathways to those projects, although most likely would not be completed before 2030.
US nuclear renaissance bringing together old and new
The fear of not meeting future AI demand is causing the industry to revive nuclear plants which were retired due to competitive economic challenges vs. gas-fired and renewable energy alternatives. These pressures have led hyperscalers such as Microsoft and Meta to cut deals which will reopen former Three Mile Island Unit 1 and keep the Clinton nuclear plant open.
Under the DOE advanced nuclear pilot, Antares’ work reached zero-power fueled criticality first at the INL in early June. This kind of testing indicates that next-gen reactors can operate safely and could be producing electricity as early as next year, according to the DOE pilot participants.
"DOE's Reactor Pilot Program has served as a transformative catalyst for American nuclear energy, enabling feats many believed were impossible less than a year ago,” Antares CEO Jordan Bramble said. “The Mark-0 demonstration will continue to generate learning in a safe, rapid setting to improve our reactor design. Beyond reactor physics, we've gained a profoundly greater mastery of our regulatory pathway and our supply chain.”
Valar’s advanced reactor Ward 250 followed Antares’ achievement by only two weeks. Ward 250 sustained a controlled nuclear chain reaction through its work also with INL.
Numerous other companies are progressing toward SMR and advanced reactor deployments in the coming decade. X-energy is seeking U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval to build its reactor to power Dow’s chemical manufacturing plant in south Texas.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 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.