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Aalo Atomics achieves criticality on July 4
Executive Order 14301 set an ambitious goal for at least three test reactors to achieve criticality by July 4. Two private companies participating in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program—Antares and Valar Atomics—reached this stage earlier in June, and Deployable Energy—participating in the DOE's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad—became the third last week.
In the last few weeks, reports indicated that Aalo would be next, reaching criticality at Idaho National Laboratory with a low-enriched uranium–fueled, sodium-cooled reactor on or near the target date set forth by President Trump’s EO 14301. In the early hours of July 4, Aalo’s critical test reactor—a full-scale zero-power version of its planned 10-MWe Aalo-X—did just that, becoming the fourth DOE-authorized reactor to hit the milestone.
Aaron S. Epiney (Idaho National Laboratory), Begona Aranguren (Texas A&M University College Station), John Darrell Bess (Idaho National Laboratory), Daniel B. Chapman (Idaho National Laboratory), Kayla Clements (University of Florida), Austin D. Fleming (Idaho National Laboratory), Justin T. Johnson (Idaho National Laboratory), Matthew R. Ramirez (Idaho National Laboratory), Daniel Michael Wachs (Idaho National Laboratory), Kevan D. Weaver (Idaho National Laboratory), Nicolas Eric Woolstenhulme (Idaho National Laboratory)
Transactions | Volume 123 | Number 1 | November 2020 | Pages 1825-1828
