Kairos’s Hermes 2 passes NRC safety review

July 23, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News
The former site of the K-33 gaseous diffusion enrichment plant in Oak Ridge’s East Tennessee Technology Park is the future site of Hermes and Hermes 2. (Photo: Kairos Power)

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has completed its final safety evaluation for Kairos Power’s application to build its Hermes 2 molten salt–cooled reactor test facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the agency announced July 22. Earlier, and independently, the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) reviewed safety-related aspects of the Kairos application and provided its review to the Commission on July 17. The evaluation concluded that there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing a construction permit for the facility, but that can’t happen until the NRC staff issues its final environmental assessment later this summer and the Commission assesses the staff’s work (under newly streamlined procedures for mandatory hearings) this fall before voting on whether to authorize a construction permit.

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