The Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) selected 13 new reactor projects this week to participate in DOE’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative.
According to a Monday DOE Idaho National Laboratory (INL) press release, NRIC, which is located at INL, announced these 12 reactor companies as the following participants to complete 13 projects:
- Torrance, Calif.-based Antares Nuclear
- Austin, Texas-based Atlas Atomic
- Houston-based Deployable Energy
- El Segundo, Calif.-based Forge Atomics
- Austin, Texas-based Hexium Inc.
- Reston, Va.-based Lightbridge Corporation
- West Valley City, Utah-based Nusano Inc.
- Santa Clara, Calif.-based Oklo
- Idaho Falls, Idaho-based Raven-Flint Nuclear
- Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based Scaled Atomics
- Los Angeles-based Sublime Nuclear
- El Segundo, Calif.-based Valar Atomics
Out of the 12 reactor companies, Deployable Energy, which was also part of the first round of selections under the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad in April, will have two reactor projects in this round, totalling 13 projects. Deployable Energy also was one of five reactors to reach criticality through DOE’s test reactor-based programs. Antares, Oklo and Valar were three other reactors to reach criticality, particularly under the reactor pilot program.
Additionally, of the 12 companies picked, nine of them were founded in the 2020s, with a handful of them beginning operations just this year.
Different from DOE’s reactor pilot program, these selected projects picked under the initiative will range from reactors to other fuel cycle functions, such as enrichment and fuel fabrication technologies.
DOE’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, announced on March 5, serves as a successor to its reactor and fuel line pilot programs that were created last summer.
The initiative will expand upon DOE’s authorization ability and will use both federal and non-federal lands to carry out its testing. NRIC will work with the selected companies to provide regulatory and technical support to assist the companies’ deployment efforts.
“These selections show a strong and growing interest from developers ready to move their technologies forward,” NRIC Director Brad Tomer said. “We’re helping bridge the gap between concept and commercialization — and these selections show that pipeline is only getting stronger.”