Kairos Power has finalized a contract with the Department of Energy to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) from the agency for the company’s Hermes low-power demonstration reactor, currently under construction in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

In partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory, Kairos intends to use the DOE-provided material to produce HALEU TRISO fuel pebbles for Hermes. The company views the Hermes test reactor and the fuel fabrication program as crucial to the eventual success of its power-producing Hermes 2 demonstration plant, also to be sited in Oak Ridge, and future commercial fluoride salt–cooled high-temperature reactors.

In a flurry of press releases, blog articles, and LinkedIn posts all released August 18, Kairos Power, Google, and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced a new power purchase agreement (PPA) between Kairos and TVA to supply up to 50 MW to the TVA grid, which powers two data centers owned by Google.

This agreement marks a significant milestone: It’s the first time a U.S. utility has entered into a PPA to buy power from a Gen IV reactor.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced yesterday that it has directed staff to issue construction permits to Kairos Power for the company's proposed Hermes 2 nonpower test reactor facility to be built at the Heritage Center Industrial Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The permits authorize Kairos to build a facility with two 35-MWt test reactors that would use molten salt to cool the reactor cores.

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.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is simplifying procedures for mandatory hearings on licensing commercial nuclear power plants and uranium enrichment facilities.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking input on its draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant impact for Kairos Power’s application to build the Hermes 2 test reactor facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.