The Department of Energy said Monday it has picked Standard Nuclear of Oak Ridge, Tenn., as the first company to participate in a Donald Trump administration pilot program to develop nuclear fuel production lines to support advanced reactors.
In the Aug. 4 press release, DOE said Standard Nuclear has been “conditionally selected” as the first company to take part in the program to curb American reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and critical materials.
“Advanced nuclear reactors will be a game-changer for the United States, and with that comes the need to fabricate the fuel for these reactors,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in the release.
Advanced reactors are expected to use designs that utilize robust TRISO fuel. Standard Nuclear will be responsible for its own costs for building, operating and decommissioning the pilot fuel facility.
Under a set of nuclear energy executive orders Trump issued in May, the feds hope to have at least three advanced nuclear reactor design concepts located outside of DOE labs achieve criticality by July 4, 2026.
