Kairos Power, Los Alamos collaborate to make TRISO fuel

09 December 2022

TRISO fuel pebbles for the Hermes demonstration reactor will be produced at the New Mexico lab's Low Enriched Fuel Fabrication Facility (LEFFF) under a newly announced agreement. This is the first nuclear iteration in Kairos Power's "rapid iterative approach" to nuclear fuel development as well as the first nuclear fuel development campaign for LEFFF.

(Image: Kairos)

California-based Kairos Power is working to commercialise its fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (KP-FHR) technology using a rapid iterative development approach. An application for a construction permit for the Hermes demonstration reactor - to be built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee - is currently undergoing formal review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Kairos said the "synergistic partnership" combines its fuel manufacturing expertise with Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) facilities and capabilities. It is facilitated by the lab's proximity to Kairos's testing and manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, where the company is working to develop manufacturing processes that will be implemented in the LEFFF.

Ed Blandford, Kairos Power's chief technology officer, said Kairos and LANL employees will work side-by-side at LEFFF to produce fuel pebbles for the reactor. "The partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory will be the catalyst for Kairos Power to build a credible path to manufacture fuel at industrial scale for KP-FHR technology starting with our Hermes demonstration reactor," he said.

Iterative prototyping and innovation from the company's Pebble Development Lab and its soon-to-be-commissioned TRISO Development Lab will be integral to the collaborative work, the company's senior director of fuels and materials, Micah Hackett, said. "With these early iterations, we are optimising our processes and learning valuable lessons that will carry forward into our nuclear fuel programme," he added.

Manufacturing fuel for Hermes in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory will allow Kairos Power to better control product quality, schedule, and cost, and yield experience that will inform future iterations in its nuclear fuel development programme, the company said, and investing in LEFFF aligns its vertical integration strategy to build a robust and reliable supply chain.

LEFFF is a multi-disciplinary customer user facility designed to support multiple nuclear fuel development campaigns, and Kairos is its first partner. "The facility is a critical tool for the nation to mature fuel technology for the advancement of clean energy," LEFFF Team Leader Timothy Coons said. "LEFFF's mission is to provide the necessary utilities and authorisation basis for a multi-disciplinary set of customers to mature and accelerate their fuel needs. This first partnership between LEFFF and Kairos Power demonstrates the commitment of both organisations to accelerate advanced clean energy solutions."
 
TRISO - standing for TRIstructural-ISOtropic - fuel comprises spherical kernels of enriched uranium oxycarbide (or uranium dioxide) surrounded by layers of carbon and silicon carbide, giving a containment for fission products which is stable up to very high temperatures. Hermes will use "pebbles" of fuel made from TRISO particles.

BWXT starts fuel production for microreactor

08 December 2022

TRISO fuel produced at BWX Technologies Inc's Lynchburg facility in Virginia will power the Project Pele microreactor - the first microreactor to be built and operated in the USA.

A vial of the finished TRISO fuel particles (Image: BWXT)

The company is manufacturing a core for Project Pele, TRISO fuel for additional reactors and coated particle fuel for NASA under a USD37 million award from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), with the lab managing the contract and providing technical support and oversight.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) has partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop, prototype and demonstrate a transportable reactor in what has been described as a whole-of-government effort in Project Pele to develop a transportable microreactor. Such plants can deliver clean, zero-carbon energy where and when it is needed and a resilient power source for DOD operational needs, but can also potentially be used in the civilian and commercial sectors for disaster response and recovery, power generation at remote locations, and deep decarbonisation initiatives.

BWXT was selected earlier this year by the SCO to build the prototype which is to be completed and delivered in 2024 for testing at INL. The fuel will be delivered separately.

TRISO - standing for TRIstructural-ISOtropic - particles contain a spherical kernel of enriched uranium oxycarbide surrounded by layers of carbon and silicon carbide, which contains fission products - it has been described by DOE as "the most robust nuclear fuel on Earth". The high-assay low-enrichment (HALEU) fuel is downblended from US government stockpiles of high-enriched uranium (HEU). BWXT's are the only private US facilities licensed to possess and process HEU.

US Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Kathryn Huff said it was "extremely exciting to see decades of DOE's investments in TRISO fuel … paying off to power many of the most innovative advanced reactor designs to be deployed within this decade".

"This commercial TRISO fuel production line is the culmination of more than 15 years of work at INL and other DOE national laboratories, in partnership with BWXT, to develop and qualify this fuel with immense potential for use in microreactors, space reactors and other advanced reactor concepts," INL Laboratory Director John Wagner said. "As the United States moves steadily toward a carbon-free energy future, nuclear power is an essential part of the journey. Project Pele will demonstrate the viability of this fuel type, opening the door for other advanced reactors."

BWXT said it has expanded its speciality coated fuels production manufacturing capacity through previously announced awards funded by the DoD Operational Energy Capabilities Improvement Fund Office and NASA and programme management provided by SCO. In addition to TRISO, the company also produces speciality coated fuels for NASA for the space nuclear propulsion project within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News