X-energy’s nuclear fuel subsidiary, TRISO-X, completed the vertical construction of its first fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the company said Sept. 24.
With the primary building of the 214,000-square-foot structure up, X-energy said in a press release that its subsidiary is going to move forward with the next stage of work that includes building out the interior and installation of fuel fabrication equipment.
Clark Construction Group, the lead construction contractor for the project, will continue to lead the next phase for TRISO-X’s TX-1 facility, X-energy said. The completion of the structure comes after Clark began work at the site in November 2025.
TX-1, when up and ready, would produce 700,000 TRISO-X fuel pebbles, which is nearly equal to five metric tons of uranium, X-energy said. The facility’s production should eventually be able to fuel up to 11 of its Xe-100 small modular reactors. TRISO-X was issued a special nuclear materials license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February, allowing the facility to produce fuel using high-assay low-enriched uranium.
If operational, TX-1 will be the first commercial fuel fabrication facility to be built in more than 50 years. TRISO-X previously said it hopes to have the facility online by 2027.
“Completing vertical construction is a major milestone for TX-1 and another tangible demonstration of the progress our team is making in Oak Ridge,” Joel Duling, president of TRISO-X, said. “We are moving from constructing the core and shell of the facility to building out the interior utilities, installing manufacturing equipment, and constructing key support capabilities.”
TX-1 is TRISO-X’s first fuel fabrication facility, as the company plans to have another fuel fabrication plant, TX-2, and a research and demonstration facility, TX-L, up at a later date at the campus located on DOE’s Oak Ridge Site. X-energy received an $11 million grant in July from the state of Tennessee for the Oak Ridge project.