BWXT Technologies said last week it has delivered its first full core of modern nuclear fuel for the Project Pele mobile microreactor prototype at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.
The tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel, made of uranium, carbon and oxygen within small kernels, has been delivered to Project Pele, BWXT said.
BWXT has been working with the Department of Defense on the compact and transportable Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled reactor units capable of generating 1.5 megawatts of electricity.
“This is real nuclear microreactor fuel delivered at its final destination, rather than some letter or memorandum promising to make fuel at a later date,” Jeff Waksman, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, said in BWXT’s Dec. 2 press release. This is part of the federal government’s continuing effort to ensure managers of critical infrastructure have “ the power they need, whenever they need it, even if the electric grid is disrupted,” he added.
The federal government has targeted 2028 to generate electricity from Project Pele.