The Department of Energy has approved the preliminary safety analysis for Austin, Texas-based Aalo Atomic’s demonstration reactor under DOE’s pilot reactor program.
Under the program, DOE wants to have at least three demonstration reactors reach criticality by July 4. With less than 120 days to go, Aalo becomes the fourth company to have its preliminary documented safety analysis approved.
The other companies selected for the pilot program to achieve this feat are Antares Nuclear, Valar Atomics and Radiant Nuclear.
Robert Boston, manager of DOE Idaho Operations, posted about the milestone on his LinkedIn page Wednesday.
Boston said this safety approval was “a testament to the outstanding work of the Idaho Operations Office team, our detailees from across DOE, and the detailees from NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] who are all experts in nuclear,” he said in his post.
Though some critics of the pilot program said that the short timelines would compromise reactor safety, Boston said safety standards have not been lowered.
“We’re simply focusing on core safety principles and strengthening communication with the applicant to ensure a clear, efficient and safety-driven process,” Boston said.
Aalo President and Chief Technology Officer Yasir Arafat thanked Boston and DOE for their efforts within the less than a year-old pilot program.
“I don’t think most people realize the level of technical rigor and scrutiny we had to go through by your [Boston’s] team, comprised of both experts from both DOE and NRC to get to this approval,” Arafat said in Boston’s post.
Prior to joining Aalo, Arafat was the project lead behind Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
Aalo, founded in 2023, is currently developing its demonstration reactor Aalo-X, a 10-megawatt sodium-cooled extra modular reactor that will use low-enriched uranium dioxide fuel. The reactor is being built at INL and will serve as a critical test reactor.
Aalo said its Aalo-X reactors will be heavily used for co-locating and powering artificial intelligence (AI) data centers when commercialized.