On June 1 at the American Nuclear Society’s Annual Conference in Denver, Colo., a team from Idaho National Laboratory presented a session titled “Lessons Learned from MARVEL Reactor Fabrication.” The presentation highlighted challenges that arose as they moved from design to manufacturing and assembly, with a focus on reactor part fabrication, Stirling engine implementation, and reactivity control system development.

Idaho National Laboratory has selected five teams for its Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) Project to develop a sodium-potassium–cooled microreactor designed to test microreactor applications, create regulatory processes, and explore electrical and nonelectrical uses.