Maryland Firm Completes Project to Develop a High-Temperature Gas Reactor

ROCKVILLE, Md. — X-energy has completed a Department of Energy-funded program aimed at further developing a high-temperature gas reactor.

The technology development project is a key step toward the final development of the company’s multibillion-dollar demonstration project and the nation’s first commercial facility to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium-based fuel for next-generation reactors.

The Maryland company is currently developing a high-temperature gas reactor that is expected to be operational by 2028 thanks to $40 million in funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law through the newly established Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.

X-energy received the Advanced Reactor Concepts award back in 2015 to further develop its Xe-100 advanced reactor design and TRISO-X particle fuel.

The six-year project resulted in X-energy completing the basic design of their Xe-100 reactor under the award and fabricating its first TRISO fuel pebbles using natural uranium at a pilot-scale fuel facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which was commissioned as part of the project.

With more matured technology, the company is now focusing its efforts on engagements with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license the Xe-100 reactor design. 

X-energy is also seeking to license and operate the nation’s first commercial facility dedicated to fueling HALEU-based reactors in Tennessee as part of DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

“The Advanced Reactor Concepts award was the catalyst for X-energy’s progress toward the deployment of the Xe-100 reactor and our TRISO-based fuel fabrication facility,” said Pete Pappano, Ph.D., president of TRISO-X, in a written statement.

“This cooperative agreement began our partnership with the Office of Nuclear Energy, and our current ARDP award will complete the mission of putting carbon-free power on the grid while building the critical HALEU fuel supply chain for all advanced reactors,” Pappano said.

X-energy is one of two U.S. companies moving forward with advanced nuclear demonstration projects supported with BIL funding under ARDP to expand access to clean energy and provide new job opportunities in two Western states.

The company plans to site a four-unit Xe-100 power plant in Washington state, while TerraPower works toward the construction of its Natrium reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

X-energy’s pebble bed high-temperature gas reactor uses specialized TRISO particle fuel that the company is confident can’t melt in their reactor design.

DOE previously invested more than $30 million through two separate cost-shared agreements to further develop the Xe-100 and demonstrate a production process for its fuel.

The company successfully submitted their application to the NRC in early April to build a commercial-scale “TRISO-X” Fuel Fabrication Facility.

When commissioned, TF3 will bring an estimated 400 new jobs to the state of Tennessee and become a key enabler for other advanced reactor designs leveraging TRISO fuel.

TF3 could be operational as early as 2025.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue.