Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 demonstration plant (blue-topped building on the left) is planned to be built next to the Hermes demonstration reactor. (Image: Kairos Power)
A notice of opportunity from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was published in the November 22 Federal Register to intervene in an adjudicatory hearing on Kairos Power’s application for a construction permit to build the Hermes 2 test reactor facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
A deadline: Petitions to intervene must be filed by January 22, 2024, by anyone, according to the NRC, “who may be affected by the proposed issuance of a construction permit and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding.”
More information on the hearing process is available on the NRC website.
Notes: In July, Kairos submitted an application to the NRC requesting permission to build the facility with two 35-megawatt thermal test reactors that are similar in design to the Hermes design previously reviewed by the NRC. Hermes would use solid tristructural isotropic, or TRISO, fuel in pebble form. The proposed unit is intended to demonstrate complete nuclear systems, advance Kairos’s manufacturing capabilities for critical components, test the supply chain, and facilitate licensing certainty for the technology.
Kairos must submit a separate application for an operating license in the future, according to the NRC.
