X-Energy received $11 million from the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Fund Wednesday to support TRISO-X’s, X-Energy’s subsidiary, tri-structural isotropic – or TRISO fuel fabrication facilities in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The $11 million award comes from the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Fund, also referred to as the Nuclear Energy Supply Chain Investment Fund, which is designed to to expand nuclear development in the state. The fund was created by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in 2023.
The Rockville, Md.-based small modular reactor (SMR) developer plans to build a fuel fabrication campus in Oak Ridge to facilitate the supply of its SMR, Xe-100. TRISO-X is currently constructing the company’s first fuel fabrication facility, TX-1. TRISO-X also received a 40-year special nuclear material license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February, allowing the company to manufacture fuel that contains high-assay low-enriched uranium – or HALEU.
According to the press release, the expansion is planned to be built at the Oak Ridge Horizon Center, adjacent to TRISO-X’s first fuel fabrication facility, TX-1.
The three facilities will be TX-1, TX-2, a second fuel fabrication facility, and TX-L, a fuel fabrication laboratory dedicated to testing new methods for fuel manufacturing, according to the release. X-Energy said the three facilities are a product of nearly a decade of fuel development and validation by the company and TRISO-X. starting as a pilot facility at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to work on TRISO manufacturing developments.
According to the release, TRISO-X fuel became the first advanced nuclear fuel form fabricated for commercial use to go through irradiation testing at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor.
Once the campus is completed, X-Energy expects “to establish one of the world’s largest commercial-scale nuclear fuel fabrication campuses, with the capacity to produce enough TRISO-X fuel to support approximately 55 of X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced small modular reactors,” according to the release.
X-Energy is currently in the review process for its construction permit application with NRC for its Xe-100 SMR project in Seadrift, Texas.
“We are proud to announce additional jobs and investment from TRISO-X today, bringing more than 1,000 new high-quality job opportunities and strengthening Tennessee’s role as a national leader in advanced energy innovation,” Lee said.
TRISO-X’s TX-1 fuel facility is one of many nuclear projects underway in Oak Ridge. Last year at the Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association’s (ETEBA) annual Business Opportunities and Technical Conference, several Tennessee state officials said East Tennessee, particularly Oak Ridge, is primed for more nuclear energy-related opportunities.
According to the Tennessee Nuclear Energy Fund’s website, more than half of the nuclear companies who received grants have projects located in Oak Ridge.