U.S. DOE Selects Four Companies for Advanced Nuclear Fuel Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced another step forward to strengthen domestic supply chains for nuclear fuel. DOE selected Oklo Inc., Terrestrial Energy Inc., TRISO-X LLC, and Valar Atomics Inc. for its new pilot program to build advanced nuclear fuel lines. Today’s action will help strengthen America’s national security, reduce reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium and support the Department’s Reactor Pilot Program that aims to have at least three reactors achieve criticality by July 4, 2026.

Deputy Secretary of Energy James P. Danly said: “Restoring a secure domestic fuel supply will ensure that advanced reactors can move quickly from design to deployment and into operation. The ability to produce these fuels is essential to ensuring American leadership in nuclear energy and to meeting the nation’s growing demand for reliable power.”

This is the second round of conditional selections under DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Program. DOE previously selected Standard Nuclear to build and operate TRISO fuel fabrication facilities. The following projects will leverage the Department’s authorization process to ensure a robust supply of fuel is available for research, development, and demonstration purposes— including the 11 reactors initially selected to participate in DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program:

• Oklo Inc. (Santa Clara, California) – To build and operate three fuel fabrication facilities to support their Aurora and Pluto reactors, and possibly other fast reactors.
• Terrestrial Energy Inc (Charlotte, NC) – To develop the Terrestrial Energy Fuel Line Assembly to demonstrate a fuel salt fabrication process in a phased approach.
• TRISO-X Inc. (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) – To build and operate an additional fuel fabrication laboratory facility to enable pilot-scale integration, training, and system validation to support the TX-1 commercial TRISO fuel fabrication facility.
• Valar Atomics Inc (Hawthorne, CA) – To support TRISO fuel fabrication for the Ward250 reactor deployment and potentially other high-temperature gas reactors.

Oklo, Terrestrial Energy, and Valar Atomics were initially selected into DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program. Today’s fuel line selections will expand access to the advanced fuel required to test their designs and accelerate the transition from demonstration to deployment.

Each company will be responsible for all costs associated with the construction, operation, and decommissioning of their fuel fabrication facilities, and must manage the sourcing of nuclear material feedstock. Companies may apply to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) through DOE’s HALEU Availability Program. Development of these pilot projects could drive private sector investment and create a fast-track approach to commercial licensing.