As President Donald Trump’s administration presses the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve more advanced reactors, NRC has a bunch of proposals in the pipeline.
Last week during former NRC Chair David Wright’s Senate nomination hearing, he called NRC’s advanced reactor sector of its agency a “shining star”. Wright credited the Advance Act for directing the agency to become more efficient.
“We [the NRC’s Advanced Reactor Team] are ahead of the game in every area there and we’re going to make sure we can get everything done that needs to get done,” Wright said in the Senate hearing last week. “We’re not going to be the problem.”
Wright, whose term ended June 30, has been nominated for a new NRC term by President Donald Trump, but still needs a Senate vote.
Wright said the NRC has moved forward with five advanced reactor applicants.
The advanced reactor applications that the NRC has received or approved:
- X-Energy/Dow – Long Mott Generation Station Xe-100 Power reactor (320 megawatt capacity) in Seadrift, Texas
- TerraPower – Kemmerer Power Station Natrium reactor (345 MW capacity) in Kemmerer, Wyo.
- Tennessee Valley Authority – Clinch River Nuclear Site BWRX-300 SMR (300 megawatt capacity) near Oak Ridge, Tenn.
- Kairos Power – Hermes (35 megawatt thermal and no electricity) and Hermes 2 demonstration plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn.
- NuScale – NuScale SMR design, recently approved uprate by the NRC for the NuScale design that allows for 77 megawatt per power module; can produce four to 12 pack module packs
While NRC has five advanced nuclear applicants, Wright said the agency has started working with around 25 vendors in the pre-application process.
According to the NRC website, the regulatory agency is involved in pre-application activities with 32 advanced reactor projects.
The advanced reactor companies and utilities developing high-temperature gas-cooled reactors that the NRC are currently engaged in pre-application conversations with:
- Energy Northwest – Xe-100, Energy Northwest entered into agreement with X-Energy to deploy Xe-100 reactors in Central Washington; Energy Northwest operates Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Wash.
- General Atomics – Energy Multiplier Module with the net output of 265 megawatts; General Atomics is a defense and technologies company.
- General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems – Fast Modular Reactor with the net output of 50 megawatts; General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems is a sub-division of General Atomics.
- Radiant Industries – Kaleidos Microreactor, a portable microreactor that would produce up to 1 megawatt of electricity.
- Terra Innovatum – SOLO micro modular reactor, intended to form a scalable modular energy platform.
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with NANO Nuclear – KRONOS Micro Modular Reactor
- X-Energy – Xe-100
- X-Energy – XENITH, a microreactor plant design that can produce 3 to 10 megawatts of electricity
Nuclear companies developing light water reactors that have engaged in pre-application talks with the NRC:
- Deep Fission – Deep Fission Borehole Reactor 1, Deep Fission plans to submit its licensing application to NRC by 2026 and hopes to be commercial by 2029.
- GE Hitachi Vernova – BWRX-300, the SMR being deployed by Ontario Power Generation in Ontario, Canada and planned to use by TVA at its Clinch River site
- Hadron Energy – Two megawatts of electricity Light-Water Microreactor, a nuclear startup company recently added to the Department of Energy’s High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) Consortium
- Last Energy – Pressurized Water Reactor-20 microreactor, a nuclear startup backed by an Elon Musk-linked venture capital that plans to deploy 30 microreactors in Texas, as reported by Fast Company
- REPLOY Power – Submerged Power System, a nuclear reactor that can be scaled to produce 300 to 600 megawatts.
- Rolls-Royce SMR Limited – TBD
- SMR, LLC (Holtec International Company) – SMR-160 and SMR-300, Holtec said it intends to deploy its first SMR-300 at the Palisades Plant in Michigan
- Westinghouse – AP300 SMR, have entered into multiple memorandum of understandings (MOUs) that explore potential AP1000 and AP300 projects in Canada and internationally
Nuclear entities that are currently working on molten salt reactors/molten chloride fast reactors that have begun pre-applications discussions with the NRC:
- Abilene Christian University (ACU) – Molten Salt Reactor, NRC initially issued a construction permit to ACU to build a molten salt research reactor in September 2024. ACU intend to submit its separate licensing application this summer
- Kairos Power – Kairos Power Fluoride salt-cooled high temperature reactor, 75 megawatts per module and would be produced in a dual for a commercial plant, according to Kairos website
- Natura Resources – Liquid fueled molten salt reactor, its reactor will be used in the ACU project; Natura also intends to deploy two advanced reactors: one at the Permian Basin and one at Texas A&M RELLIS Campus
- TerraPower – Natrium Reactor
- Terrestrial Energy USA – Integral Molten Salt Reactor, signed a MOU last year with EnergySolutions to potentially deploy its SMR at EnergySolutions sites
A few nuclear companies have entered into pre-application work with the NRC while working on sodium cooled reactors. The following pre-applicants are:
- Aalo Atomics – Aalo-1 Microreactor, working with DOE and Idaho National Laboratory to build its 10 megawatts of electricity microreactor on INL land
- ARC Clean Technology – ARC-100 Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (100 megawatts of electricity capacity), recently signed a MOU with Deep Atomic to explore possible deployment of ARC-100 reactors
- Oklo – Aurora Powerhouse, backed by a DOE site permit, deployment of the Aurora Powerhouse is expected to be complete 2027 or 2028. Oklo plans to submit a combined construction and operation license application to the NRC later this year
- TerraPower and GE Hitachi – Natrium Reactor using HALEU metal fuel
While most pre-applicants have come to the NRC with a specific design or technology, these are the following nuclear entities that are listed to be in conversation with the NRC with other designs or unspecified technology:
- Appalachian Power Company – Not selected
- Blue Energy – Not selected
- Duke Energy – TBD
- Japan Atomic Energy Agency – Floating Seismic Isolation System
- Shepherd Power – TBD
- Texas A&M University – TBD
- Westinghouse – eVinci Microreactor
