- Oklo Cleared for Landing at Alaska USAF Base
- DOE to Recycle EBR-II Spent Fuel to Make HALEU
- Oklo Signs MOU with CENTRUS for Fuel, Components, and Power
- BWXT to Manufacture HALEU Feedstock for Advanced Reactors
- Holtec Plans SMRs for Palisades Nuclear Plant Site
- India Commissions First 700 MW indigenous PHWR
Oklo Cleared for Landing at Alaska USAF Base
Oklo, a developer of an advanced micronuclear reactor, has been selected to build one at the USAF’s Eielson Air Force Base which is located about 22 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. The firm is the first microreactor developer to land a contract for power production with a US military installation.Under the pending contract, the reactor will provide power and heat for the site. The Oklo Aurora reactor incorporates a small advanced fission technology that can be used in remote or off-grid locations to generate power.
Oklo will design, construct, own, and operate the reactor. The contract will be issued by the Defense Logistics Agency. The agency notice initiates the acquisition process to potentially award a 30-year, firm-fixed-price contract to the vendor after it successfully obtains an NRC license. The micro-reactor is expected to be operational by the end of 2027, as directed by the fiscal year 2019 National Defense authorization Act. The government will pay for the reactor power under a federal power purchase agreement.
Oklo’s power plant uses a fast reactor design. The technology’s ability to operate independently from the grid while providing a clean and reliable power source makes it an ideal solution for domestic military installations critical to national security infrastructure. The Oklo Aurora Powerhouse, which is the name of the microreactor, is intended to run for 10-20 years on a single core of high assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) in metal form.
Oklo is currently making a second effort to complete the NRC safety design review process. The agency denied the first application in January 2022 saying the firm’s submission contained significant information gaps and in its classification of safety systems and components.
Since then Oklo has set its sights on a modification of its microreactor design which includes eliminating the heat pipes that were a significant design element. In effect, the firm is coming forward in its engagement with the NRC with a revised approach to meeting licensing requirements and with a revision to the reactor design itself.
Support for the Oklo Contract
“The Department of the Air Force announcement today demonstrates how the Department of Defense continues to invest in facilitating U.S.-developed technology that provides mission assurance and advances our national interests in Alaska and the homeland,” said Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment.”“We are watching this project closely and working with the other military departments to identify additional installations where deployment of U.S.-developed advanced nuclear technology will improve power reliability and installation resilience.”
“Today is a historic first for the Air Force, state of Alaska, and the nation. Safe, reliable, clean energy using micro-reactor technology will be an integral part of Air Force installations in the future. The best part of this innovation is that we are coming together at the beginning to demonstrate this capability—partnering with key regulatory authorities, state, and local communities to ensure we get this right and do it safely,” said Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and Environment. “It’s a huge team effort. By seizing the initiative on this critical technology today, we are laying the foundation for American competitiveness in energy for years to come.”
“Eielson (AFB) is eager to welcome this cutting-edge technology onto the base. The notice of intent to make the award to Oklo Inc. reinforces our commitment to innovation in order to protect and defend the nation with even greater efficiency and effectiveness,” said Col. Paul P. Townsend, 354th Fighter Wing commander at Eielson AFB.
“We are honored to be at the forefront of increasing resilience and reducing emissions, while driving national security forward,” said Jacob DeWitte, Co-Founder and CEO of Oklo.
About Oklo’s Microreactor
Micro-reactors are small nuclear reactors that can produce carbon-free energy and are equipped with built-in safety features that self-adjust to changing conditions and demands to prevent overheating. The technology’s ability to operate independently from the commercial grid and reduce greenhouse gas emissions make micro-reactors a promising power source for critical national security infrastructure.
Earlier this year Oklo announced that the firm will be siting two new 15 MW Aurora reactors in Southern Ohio around the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant south of Piketon, Ohio. The Aurora Powerhouse at the INL site and the second and third reactors in Ohio will deploy its revised design that incorporates fast neutron spectrum and will not use heat pipes which was the basis for the original design. The reactors will provide heat and power to industrial facilities in the local market.
Separately, Oklo has received a site use permit to build one of its 1.5 MW Aurora Powerhouse microreactors at the Idaho National Laboratory.Also, the firm was awarded fuel material from Idaho National Laboratory, and is developing advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. national laboratories. (See report below: DOE to Recycle EBR-II Spent Fuel to Make HALEU)
On July 11, 2023, Oklo and AltC Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: ALCC) announced that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement that upon closing would result in the combined company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “OKLO.”
AltC was co-founded by Sam Altman and Churchill Capital in July 2021 to combine the technology thought leadership and deep industry relationships of Mr. Altman with the public markets expertise of Churchill Capital to provide public investors access to a compelling “hard tech” opportunity. Altman serves as CEO of AltC and has served as Chairman of Oklo since 2015.
The investment deal is expected to provide the California-based group with $516 million. The capital that Oklo raises by going public will go ramp up its supply chain and procurement processes and fund the building of a pilot scale production facility for its microreactor.
Project Pele Update
In a separate effort, the The Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO)’s Project Pele program will design, build, and demonstrate a mobile microreactor. SCO will construct an inherently safe by design nuclear microreactor capable of being transported by the DOD and able to deliver 1-5 MWe of electrical power for a minimum of three years and for as long as five years of full power operation at US military bases and overseas.
The project team provided an update on 08/28/23 on the status of Project Pele in a webinar hosted by the American Nuclear Society.
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DOE to Recycle EBR-II Spent Fuel to Make HALEU
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is working to recycle EBR-II spent fuel as part of a larger effort to make high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) available to reactor developers to test and demonstrate their designs.
HALEU is enriched between 5 and 19.75 percent with uranium-235 which is the main fissile isotope that produces energy during a chain reaction. It is not currently available from domestic suppliers and is required by most advanced reactors to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies over current technologies.
The plan is to recover approximately 10 metric tons of HALEU from EBR-II fuel by December 2028 using an electrochemical process that was perfected over the years at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
How Is EBR-II Spent Nuclear Fuel Recycled?
EBR-II operated from 1964 to 1994 and used a metallic alloy fuel containing highly enriched uranium (67% U235) (HEU is any nuclear fuel enriched to a level greater than 20% U235.)
To recover the high enriched uranium, the spent nuclear fuel is prepared and placed into a high-temperature molten salt chemical bath. An electric current is then used to separate the highly enriched uranium metal from the fission products. The recovered uranium is cleaned and mixed (downblended) with lower enriched uranium to create HALEU.
The uranium is then fabricated into a large circular ingot before being fashioned into low-dose, smaller shapes in a high-temperature furnace. The smaller ingots can then be used to produce fuel elements for advanced reactors.
Fueling the Future
Oklo Inc. expressed interest in receiving 5 metric tons of HALEU and a cooperative agreement was competitively awarded in 2019. The recovered material from EBR-II will be used in the initial core of its Aurora microreactor that will be first demonstrated at the lab as early as 2026. DOE will retain ownership over the material before, during, and after its use.
What’s Next
To date, nearly five metric tons of HALEU material has been recovered from the spent EBR-II fuel. INL expects to recover approximately 10 metric tons of HALEU through this initiative.
In addition to this project DOE is also supporting several efforts to provide more access to HALEU.
- Current activities include recycling spent nuclear fuel from other government-owned research reactors,
- Supporting the demonstration of HALEU production at an enrichment facility in Piketon, OH, and;
- Acquiring HALEU through purchase agreements with domestic industry partners.
These actions will spur demand for additional HALEU production and private investment in the nation’s nuclear fuel supply infrastructure. The issue for developers of advanced reactors and producers of HALEU is market timing of the resulting demand for the fuel.
NRC licensing of additional HALEU production and fuel fabrication plants will be required to expand the supply of this nuclear fuel.
This (edited) report is provided courtesy of DOE and Dr. Jon Carmack, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Supply Chain.
Status of Two HALEU Fuel Fabrication Plants
Two advanced reactor development firms – TerraPower and X-Energy – which are funded under cost sharing agreements with DOE – are engaged in building fuel fabrication plants for uranium metal and TRISO fuel, respectively, for their reactors. Supplies of HALEU from enrichment sources and uranium conversion processes are essential as feedstocks for these types of nuclear fuels.
TerraPower – In October 2022 Global Nuclear Fuel–Americas (GNF-A), a GE-led joint venture, and TerraPower announced an agreement to build the Natrium Fuel Facility at the site of GNF-A’s existing plant site near Wilmington, NC.
The Natrium Fuel Facility will be jointly funded by TerraPower and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, which aims to speed the demonstration of advanced reactors through cost-shared partnerships with U.S. industry. The facility represents an investment of more than $200 million.
TerraPower has said it expects operation of the Natrium demonstration reactor to be delayed by at least two years because there will not be sufficient commercial capacity to manufacture high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel in time to meet the proposed 2028 in-service date. The reactor is slated to be built in Kemmerer, WY, to replace an existing coal-fired power plant.
Company CEO and President Chris Levesque said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February caused “the only commercial source of HALEU fuel” to no longer be a viable part of the supply chain.
X-Energy – In October 2022 TRISO-X LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-energy, broke ground and began construction activities on a commercial-scale advanced nuclear fuel facility in Oak Ridge, TN.
The TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility (TF3) will attract an investment of approximately $300 million. TF3 is set to be commissioned and operational by 2025.
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. The firm inked a deal in May with Dow to deliver four of its 80 MW HTGR design reactors one of DOW’s chemical production plants at a coastal site in Texas.
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Oklo Signs MOU with CENTRUS for Fuel, Components, and Power
Oklo Inc. and Centrus Energy Corp.(NYSE:LEU) announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two companies to support the deployment of Oklo’s advanced fission powerhouses and advanced nuclear fuel production in Southern Ohio.
Oklo and Centrus have been partners since 2021 when the companies signed a Letter of Intent to cooperate in the development of a High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel facility. With this new MOU, Oklo and Centrus plan to enter into a broad range of collaboration programs supporting the development and operation of Oklo’s Aurora powerhouses.
The scope of the MOU includes supply of HALEU produced by Centrus at its Piketon, Ohio, facility which is about 100 miles due east of Cincinnati, OH. Centrus also intends to buy clean, reliable, and affordable energy from Oklo’s planned Ohio plants to power its HALEU Production Facility. Oklo has a partnership with Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative at the DOE Piketon Site for its second and third commercial plants.
The parties intend to enter into one or more definitive agreements relating to the following collaborative activities addressed in the MOU:
Oklo would purchase HALEU from the production facility Centrus is planning to build in Piketon, Ohio, the only such facility licensed so far by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to produce HALEU.
Image: Centrus file
Centrus would purchase electricity from the Aurora powerhouses that Oklo is planning to build in Piketon. These two power plants are designed to power thousands of homes and businesses in addition to the HALEU production facility.
Centrus noted that the HALEU production plant is designed to be scaled up to support hundreds of nuclear reactors.
Centrus would manufacture components for Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse at Centrus’ advanced manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as well as manufacturing capacity at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, where HALEU production will take place.
Diagram of a gas centrifuge with countercurrent flow,
used for separating isotopes of uranium. Image: Wikipedia
Centrus and Oklo would work together to establish and license the capabilities necessary to deconvert HALEU from uranium hexafluoride to uranium metal and fabricate fuel assemblies for Oklo’s Aurora powerhouses.
At the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, the firm expects to begin production of HALEU by the end of 2023 as part of the company’s contract with the DOE. With sufficient funding and offtake commitments, Centrus could expand the facility to meet the full range of commercial and national security requirements for enriched uranium, including the production of Low-Enriched Uranium as well as HALEU.
Senate Action – In August the US Senate has voted by 96-3 to approve legislation that would strengthen domestic nuclear fuel production and ensure that disruptions in uranium supply will not impact the development of advance reactors or the operation of the USA’s existing power reactor fleet.
The Nuclear Fuel Security Program envisaged in the amendment will require the US Department of Energy (DOE) to begin acquiring at least 100 tonnes of low-enriched uranium per year. It must enter into at least two contracts by the end of 2026 “to ensure diversity of supply in domestic uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, and deconversion capacity and technologies, including new capacity, among US nuclear energy companies.”
It also requires DOE to begin acquiring at least 20 tonnes per year of HALEU by the end of 2027. The program must utilize only uranium “produced, converted, enriched, deconverted, and reduced” in the USA, or, if this is not practicable, a country “that is an ally or partner of the United States.”
Urenco has approved an investment to expand enrichment capacity at its US site in New Mexico, known as UUSA. The project will install multiple new centrifuge cascades in an existing plant which will strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain both in the US and globally.
The first machines will come online in 2025. The firm did not disclose the total cost of the new production facilities. New commitments from US customers for non-Russian fuel underpin this investment, which will provide an additional capacity of around 700 tonnes of SWU per year, a 15% cent increase at UUSA.
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BWXT to Manufacture HALEU Feedstock for Advanced Reactors
BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT) announced a contract to process thousands of kilograms of government-owned scrap material containing enriched uranium that is unusable in its present form in order to produce more than two metric tons of feedstock that can be used for fuel to demonstrate advanced reactors and help decarbonize the U.S. power grid.
BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. (BWXT) will conduct this project at its facilities located near Lynchburg, Virginia. The final form of the processed material will be High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU), more commonly known as HALEU. The initial award will total $47 million, with a total contract value of up to $116.5 million, subject to annual congressional appropriations.
This contract adds to BWXT’s ongoing work with the NNSA to build the company’s HALEU production capabilities in support of converting high performance research reactors from highly enriched uranium to HALEU.
Jeff Chamberlin, Assistant Deputy Administrator for DOE NNSA’s Office of Material Management and Minimization said, “The project will clear over two metric tonnes of scrap material from the Y-12 National Security Complex, contributing to ongoing efforts to reduce the material accountability and inventory totals at the site, while also supporting the Department’s advanced reactor demonstration projects.”
Project & Contract Details
BWXT will produce over two metric tons of HALEU over the next five years, with several hundred kilograms expected to be available as early as 2024.
To support this program, BWXT plans to hire approximately 20 new operators, engineers and safety personnel at its Lynchburg-area facility. The final product of the program will be HALEU feedstock in an oxide form at an enrichment level of 19.75%.
The scrap material to be provided by the NNSA is currently in a variety of forms and enrichment levels, and it has been collected by the government from a number of different sources, primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
BWXT to Deliver TRISO Fuel to INL for Testing in 2024
In December 2020, BWX Technologies, Inc. was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to lead a microreactor development project. The company’s BANR (BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor) program will pursue the development of a microreactor with the design focused on advanced TRISO fuel particles to achieve higher uranium loading and improved fuel utilization. BWXT is on track to deliver the first round of BANR’s TRISO fuel for testing at Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor in 2024.
The company’s BANR (BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor) was selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). Subsidiary BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC (BWXT AT) has finalized its formal cost-sharing contracting with the DOE and is on track to deliver the first round of BANR’s TRISO fuel for testing at Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor in 2024 as scheduled.
Testing at Idaho National Laboratory will provide important operational data on the performance of TRISO fuel particles. When complete, the project will have matured technologies related to key reactor safety systems in order to improve the overall economics for deployment.
This data is critical for approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and transition to deployment. BWXT AT is also partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the development of advanced modeling and simulation tools and manufacturing processes.
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Holtec Plans SMRs for Palisades Nuclear Plant Site
According to a report in Business Korea, South Korea’s Hyundai E&C and Holtec will commence construction in 2026 of a small modular reactor (SMR) adjacent to the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. The goal to complete the project within three years and start electricity production by 2029. The EPC contract is reported to be worth an estimated $3.3 billion.On 08/15/23 in an interview conducted by the business trade journal at Holtec’s Philadelphia, PA, office, Dr. Kris Singh, President and CEO of Holtec, stated that the “first SMR will be constructed on the Palisades nuclear power site in Michigan,” anticipating power production by 2029. Singh said, “two to four SMRs will be built on our Palisades site.”
The Palisades plant in Michigan was permanently shut down in May 2022, but with Holtec asking DOE for a loan to fundi a “restart” of the reactor, the firm is also pushing for the construction of the SMR there. The Palisades switch yard, grid connection, access to cooling water, and many other infrastructure elements, are already in place to potentially support multiple SMRs.
The company is developing a 160 MW PWR type SMR, the “SMR-160.” While Holtec, like other SMR developers, has held pre-licensing meetings with the NRC, no date has been announced for submission of a license application.
Holtec SMR-160 – Conceptual Cutaway: Image: Holtec file
Hyundai E&C will be in charge of nuclear power plant construction. In November 2021, the firm signed a Teaming Agreement with Holtec for the development of SMR and a joint business venture. Business Korea reported that Hyundai Construction aims to complete the project at the Palisades site project “within 3 years” and will break ground no later than 2026.
Holtec’s press office declined to add anything to the press report from the South Korean business journal or provide an update on the status of the firm’s request for funding from DOE to restart the Palisades reactor. The press office said that the firm remains committed to building its first SMR at the site of the former Oyster Creek BWR located on New Jersey’s Atlantic coast.
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India Commissions First 700 MW indigenous PHWR
The Hindustan Times reported that India’s first indigenously developed 700 MWe nuclear power reactor has started operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi commended the initiation of operations at India’s first indigenously developed 700-megawatt electric (MWe) nuclear power reactor at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP) in Gujarat which is also PM Modi’s homd province. The PHWR is the first of two similar units to be built there.
Conceptual Schematic of NPCIL PHWR. Image: NPCIL file
India’s upcoming Nuclear Power plants
NPCIL plans to build a fleet of 16 700 MW PHWRs across the country and has provided financial and administrative approval for the same. The government has authorized the construction of 10 indigenously developed PHWRs in fleet mode at four locations—Gorakhpur in Haryana, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan, and Kaiga in Karnataka.
Also, construction of 700 MW nuclear power plants is underway at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan (RAPS 7 and 8) and at Gorakhpur in Haryana (GHAVP 1 and 2).
India has also committed to building 1000 MW VVERs from Rosatom with two units commissioned at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu with four more under construction at that site. Construction of Units 5 & 6 began in June 2021.
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