Pilot Advanced Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing Facility Opens
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. has opened a pilot fuel manufacturing facility that will produce TRi-structural ISOtropic (TRISO) coated fuel particles and the company’s proprietary fuel for use in its high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR).
The Pilot Fuel Manufacturing (PFM) facility, located at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is one of the first U.S. private sector manufacturing facilities dedicated to developing advanced reactor fuel. It is now ready to process feedstock uranium powder into TRISO fuel particles and subsequently produce Ultra Safe Nuclear’s patented fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel in multiple kilogram quantities, the company said on Aug. 18 as it declared the facility officially open.
The company plans to produce, test, and qualify the fuel at the facility for use in its Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) Energy System, which is a fourth-generation 5-MWe (15-MWth) HTGR, and other advanced terrestrial and space energy systems that it is also developing. Pivotally, the PFM will allow the company to test equipment and processes that could be scaled into larger fuel manufacturing facilities.…