The US Department of Energy (DOE) released a final environmental assessment and proposed Finding Of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the operation of the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at Idaho National Laboratory. DOE said DOME would provide private industry with a safe, reliable, and affordable location to test their microreactor technologies to generate data needed to obtain reactor licensing and commercialisation.
The final environmental assessment details the review and analysis of alternatives DOE considered for DOME, based on the National Environmental Policy Act. DOE’s analysis determined the operation of DOME will have no significant environmental or human health impacts.
The National Reactor Innovation Center’s DOME test bed revives and modernises key features of the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) facility and refurbishes it to host advanced experimental reactors up to 20 MWt with High Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuels while providing safety-significant confinement for reactors to go critical for the first time.
