The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has announced its initial selections for its Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) program.
In INL’s Thursday press release, the national laboratory selected the following companies as potential end users for MARVEL:
- Amazon Web Services proposes to co-locate the MARVEL reactor with a data center.
- DCX USA and Arizona State University propose to use MARVEL to demonstrate the feasibility of a microreactor to power an artificial intelligence (AI) data center.
- General Electric Vernova proposes to use MARVEL to demonstrate remote and autonomous reactor operations and create control standards for broader application of the technology for commercial reactors.
- Radiation Detection Technologies proposes to use MARVEL to test advanced sensor technologies that could help monitor the performance of advanced reactors.
- Shepherd Power, NOV and ConocoPhillips propose to use MARVEL for a pilot-scale desalination project. It would use heat produced by nuclear generation to demonstrate the viability of nuclear energy for addressing produced water challenges in oil and gas operations.
The companies will work with national laboratory experts to determine the achievability of their projects, INL said. This could lead to the possibility of using the reactor for demonstration, INL added.
Final project agreements are expected to be announced in 2026, according to the release. INL intends to reach dry criticality for MARVEL in 2027 and to transition to full power operations in 2028, according to INL.
INL said the first selections will have the opportunity to demonstrate the capability of powering data centers with nuclear power and use of nuclear energy to advance the United States efforts in the AI race.
MARVEL is a sodium-potassium-cooled microreactor that has a generating capacity of up to 20 kilowatts of electricity and 85 kilowatts of thermal energy. DOE has been developing MARVEL since 2020.
On June 16, INL, managed by Battelle Energy Alliance, issued an expression of interest seeking requests from private companies for potential tests or demonstrations using MARVEL. The following month, INL held a webinar further discussing the expression of interest solicitation, the timeline and framework of it.
“With access to MARVEL, companies can explore how microreactors will potentially help us win the global AI race, solve water challenges and so much more,” John Jackson, national technical director for DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Microreactor Program, said. “The MARVEL testbed exemplifies how nuclear energy can open the door to a stronger, safer and more prosperous future for our country.”