3D printing to speed construction and lower costs tested at Kairos Power campus

July 28, 2025, 12:04PMNuclear News
The 3D-printed forms—inside of which concrete is poured—are used to build radiation shielding columns for Kairos Power’s Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor. (Screen capture from ORNL video)

The Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in partnership with Kairos Power and Barnard Construction, has successfully developed and validated large-scale, 3D-printed polymer composite forms for casting complex concrete structures.

The test took place at Kairos Power’s Oak Ridge, Tenn., campus, where the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor is currently under construction.

See a video of construction activity here.

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