The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public opinion on the draft environmental impact statement for TRISO-X’s special nuclear material license application for its proposed fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Public comments on the draft environmental review are due by Nov. 17, according to NRC’s Oct. 23 notice published in the Federal Register.
TRISO-X, X-Energy’s subsidiary is seeking a license authorizing it to obtain and use special nuclear material to manufacture high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel.
The fuel fabrication facility, also known as TX-1, is the first of two planned at X-Energy’s site at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site. The 110-acre site at the Horizon Center in Roane County, Tenn., next to the DOE site will manufacture tri-structural-isotropic or TRISO fuel for the company’s first commercial implementation of the company’s Xe-100 reactor in Texas and future reactors, X-Energy said.
The company hopes to be the first Category 2 fuel fabrication facility licensed by the NRC. According to the NRC, a Category 2 fuel fabrication facility is a facility licensed to possess special nuclear material of moderate strategic significance. These facilities include HALEU fuel cycle plants.