North America’s first commercial-scale advanced nuclear fuel facility is being built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to begin supplying next generation nuclear plants with a more robust nuclear fuel that can withstand higher temperatures without melting.
TRISO-X LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-energy, broke ground Thursday on a $300 million plant in Oak Ridge that will eventually create more than 400 jobs. The TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility is getting initial funding as part of a $3.2 billion federal program to develop, build and demonstrate advanced nuclear reactors by the end of the decade.
The TRISO-X nuclear fuel produced in the Oak Ridge facility will be used in X-energy’s Xe-100 high-temperature gas reactors expected to be operational by 2028.
“Our TRISO-X facility groundbreaking in Oak Ridge is a monumental moment for advanced nuclear energy as we deliver on the critical promise to drive deep decarbonization across the planet,” X-energy CEO Clay Sell said in an announcement of the new facility. “X-energy is thrilled to continue our partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, East Tennessee, the Oak Ridge community and its best-in-class nuclear workforce.”
Oak Ridge produced the first civilian commercial nuclear reactors after the end of World War II, and the area’s nuclear energy expertise made Oak Ridge an ideal setting for the country’s first commercial advanced nuclear fuel facility, Sell said.
The TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility “is well positioned to capitalize on its access to the area’s science and technology hubs to meet the growing domestic and global demand for TRISO-based fuel,” he said. “It’s our hope and belief that this groundbreaking and subsequent innovations here will catalyze the energy and industrial sectors to move further into the next generation of nuclear energy.”
Contributed illustration / An artist rendering shows what the $300 million nuclear fuel fabrication facility to be built in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will look like when it is completed in 2025.Tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel is considered the most robust nuclear fuel on the planet, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Pete Pappano, president of TRISO-X, said X-energy manufactures its own proprietary version of TRISO — TRISO-X — to ensure supply, improve quality and reduce costs.
“The fuel X-energy will produce at this Oak Ridge facility will build a more robust and secure nuclear energy supply chain — supporting the deployment of nuclear energy on a scale never seen before,” Pappano said in a statement. “With support from the U.S. Department of Energy, we are proud that TRISO-X is leading the commercial development of this safe, innovative technology and that it will be among the first advanced nuclear fuels demonstrated in a grid-scale next-generation reactor.”
In 2016, X-energy opened a pilot-scale nuclear fuel facility in Oak Ridge to further develop its TRISO-X fuel and support its Xe-100 reactor design. X-energy continues to evolve the proud nuclear tradition in Oak Ridge with the construction of its new TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility facility and will continue to invest in the community by helping to create sustainable economic opportunities throughout the region, company officials said.
“The work X-energy will do in Oak Ridge will bring the country closer to regaining energy independence while providing a safer, cheaper and more flexible nuclear fuel option in TRISO-X,” U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, said in a statement Thursday.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner