ARC Clean Technology and Battelle Energy Alliance have entered into a partnership that is aimed to deploy ARC’s ARC-100 small modular reactor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.
Battelle Energy Alliance is DOE’s management contractor for INL. According to ARC’s Tuesday press release, the agreement will create a multi-year framework to support the construction of its ARC-100 SMR, a 100-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor.
The ARC-100 SMR is based on the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II, a sodium-cooled fast reactor that shut down in the 1990s. The shuttered breeder reactor was built and operated at INL and managed by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory.
The agreement would cover the ARC reactor’s full lifespan from demonstration to eventual decommissioning. Idaho National Laboratory is DOE’s lead lab for nuclear power research and development, ARC said it plans to utilize several of the facilities, such as Advanced Test Reactor, to advance its reactor technology.
ARC said this new agreement builds on its relationship with INL as the two have been collaborating since ARC’s involvement with DOE’s Advanced Reactor Concepts 2020 program, which is connected with the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.
“This partnership with Idaho National Laboratory marks a pivotal step in ARC’s mission to bring safe, reliable, advanced nuclear energy to the world,” Irfan Ali, ARC president and chief strategy officer, said. “INL’s capabilities in reactor design, materials science, and regulatory engagement are unmatched, and we look forward to working alongside their expert teams to demonstrate the promise of our technology.”
ARC, founded in 2006, is headquartered in New Brunswick, Canada and Washington, D.C. While the company has been around for years and developed the ARC-100 SMR, it has not deployed a commercial reactor yet.
The company is undergoing regulatory review in Canada by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for its ARC-100 reactor. In the United States, ARC said it plans to use the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s newly finalized Part 53 pathway for its reactor design.
Part 53 is designed to take a risk-informed, technology-inclusive approach to allow for an accelerated licensing method for advanced reactors.
In April, ARC also announced new plans to deploy its ARC-100 SMRs in Türkiye and is looking at regulatory feasibility studies for it.