A digital twin of Purdue’s reactor appears on monitors in Stylianos Chatzidakis’s lab. Chatzidakis observes PhD student Zach Dahm, seated, as he toggles through different views. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)
A research reactor built in 1962 that was converted to digital control and operation in 2019 is aiding the development of advanced nuclear reactors, such as small modular reactors and microreactors. An article published by Purdue University describes how Purdue University Reactor Number One (PUR-1), currently the only facility to be licensed for a fully digital safety and control system by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is being used to perform “first-of-a-kind experiments that are unique to the nuclear sector.”
A view of the DOME microreactor testbed, which is managed by the National Reactor Innovation Center. (Image: NRIC)
The National Reactor Innovation Center is accepting applications from developers ready to take a fueled microreactor to criticality inside the former Experimental Breeder Reactor-II containment building at Idaho National Laboratory, now repurposed as DOME—a microreactor test bed. According to a Department of Energy announcement, DOME will be ready to receive the first experimental reactor in the fall of 2026, with testing likely to begin in 2027.
Gas-fired power units under construction at the IPP plant site in central Utah. (Photo: IPA)
Utah-based waste management company EnergySolutions announced that it has signed a memorandum of understating with the Intermountain Power Agency and the state of Utah to explore the development of advanced nuclear power generation at the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) site near Delta, Utah.
Figure showing the nine steps of the demonstration example’s RIPB design process.
Deep Isolation’s Rod Baltzer and Deep Fission’s Elizabeth Muller. (Photo: Deep Fission)
Nuclear start-ups Deep Fission and Deep Isolation will collaborate on the management of spent nuclear fuel from Deep Fission’s advanced underground reactors under a memorandum of understanding signed by the companies.
William D. Magwood IV (left) meets with government officials during a visit to Mongolia. (Photo: NEA)
Nuclear Energy Agency Director General William D. Magwood IV visited Mongolia recently for a series of meetings with government representatives and to participate in discussions on nuclear energy development in the country.
Concept art of Moltex’s SSR–W and WATSS facility. (Image: Moltex)
Advanced reactor company Moltex Energy Canada said it has successfully validated its waste to stable salt (WATSS) process on used nuclear fuel bundles from an unnamed Canadian commercial reactor through hot cell experiments conducted by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.
Core Power CEO Mikal Bøe addresses a Houston, Texas, summit. (Photo: Nina Rangoy)
U.K.-based Core Power has announced that it intends to develop a maritime civil nuclear program anchored in the United States with the goal of bringing floating nuclear power to market by the mid-2030s. The program, called Liberty, is to encompass the modular construction of advanced reactor technology and create the regulatory and supply chain frameworks needed to begin the mass production of floating nuclear power plants (FNPPs) on a global scale.