US-based start-up NANO Nuclear Energy has announced that its proprietary, patent-pending Annular Linear Induction Pump (ALIP) technology for nuclear reactors has been assembled onto a test loop. It has been integrated to a controllable test setup for variable design validation at NANO’s Demonstration Facility in Westchester County, New York.
The ALIP assembly shows NANO Nuclear’s ability to move technology from initial design to construction and demonstration. NANO Nuclear hopes to start commercial sales activities for ALIP by the end of this year or next year. This also underscores the utility of NANO Nuclear’s Westchester Demonstration Facility, which became operational earlier this year.
The ALIP technology is a thermal management and distribution system. It operates using electromagnetic instead of mechanical, pumps and could serve as a critical component in the development of advanced molten-salt and liquid-metal nuclear reactors. Earlier this year, NANO Nuclear collaborated with aRobotics Company, a leading innovator in robotics fabrication, inspection, engineering and testing, to support NANO Nuclear’s ongoing SBIR Phase III programme for ALIP.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Partnering Platform was launched by the US Department of Energy in October 2023 to facilitate the identification and engagement between awardees and key partners. Studies show that small businesses are 50% more likely to successfully commercialise their technology if they develop necessary partnerships during development.
“This initial milestone with ALIP shows in a small but very promising way what we can do as a company in the real world,” said NANO Nuclear CEO James Walker. “ALIP is an enabling technology that supports the development of next-generation reactors utilising molten salts or liquid metals, and advancing ALIP through the SBIR Phase III process has allowed us to mature the system extensively, refining its design, validating key performance metrics, and preparing it for integration into demonstration-scale platforms at our custom-built Westchester facility. This progress not only enhances the technology’s readiness for deployment but also opens a clear pathway toward revenue generating activities for NANO Nuclear as we progress work on our broader portfolio of advanced nuclear technologies.”
Jay Yu, Founder and Chairman of NANO Nuclear said: “Developing the first iteration of NANO Nuclear’s ALIP and its adjacent test instrumentation enables us to collect crucial data and advance this project towards its ultimate goal of commercialisation. With the support of aRobotics Company, we plan to steadily develop and test additional generations of ALIP as we improve the technology’s readiness for the market.”
Akaash Kancharla, CEO of aRobotics Company believes ALIP will have a number of applications upon development including in the space and defence sectors. “The procedural knowledge and material science advanced by this work will have implications far beyond this useful product,” he noted.
By utilising a time-varying magnetic field, ALIP enables the movement of conductive fluids without mechanical components, reducing wear and maintenance requirements while increasing efficiency. Current efforts at the NANO Nuclear Demonstration Facility are geared towards the development of the first operational ALIP prototype and a custom designed test loop for research data collection, alongside a magnetic field mapping system, for the collection of manufacturing and performance data. Future work will include testing and characterising pump performance with different working fluids, simulating component failure scenarios, and material testing.
