Donald Trump · Ars Technica
Small modular nuclear reactor reaches criticality in first test
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Over a year ago, the Trump Administration issued an executive order meant to accelerate the development of nuclear power in the US.
Key facts
- At the moment, Antares is testing what it calls a Mark 0 reactor, which is not connected to the power-generation portion
- Over a year ago, the Trump Administration issued an executive order meant to accelerate the development of nuclear power in the US
- On Thursday, a startup called Antares announced that a test reactor it had placed at the Idaho National Laboratory had reached criticality, making it the first new design to cross this threshold
- While the work was done at a Department of Energy Lab, the company is working with the Department of Defense’s Project Pele program for developing a mobile nuclear reactor
Summary
The executive order directed the Department of Energy to have three different reactor designs reach criticality in a bit over a year. Antares is one of several companies that is basing its design on a new fuel system called TRISO that takes some of the complexity and safety out of the reactor design and places them in the fuel design. As long as your reactor can keep the TRISO pellets contained, then there should be no risk of meltdown or even the release of the most dangerous isotopes produced from the reactions. To mitigate non-radioactive risks, the Antares design uses sodium to take heat from the reactor to a heat exchanger.