The US Department of Energy (DOE) has approved the Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) for Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor. Westinghouse is the first microreactor developer to receive PSDR approval, which is required for access to the National Reactor Innovation Center’s (NRIC’s) Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
In 2024, Westinghouse, Radiant, and Ultra Safe Nuclear were selected to receive federal funding totalling $3.9bn to support them in the front-end engineering and experiment design (FEEED) process in preparation for the testing of fuelled reactor experiments at the NRIC-DOME test bed. Submission of the PSDR was necessary to complete the FEEED process, which involves developing a detailed schedule, budget, design, and test plan for the experiment. Also required is a detailed preliminary safety report on its design to ensure safe operations during testing.
NRIC-DOME is one of two historic facilities at INL that are being restructured to create test beds for advanced reactor technology. DOME’s concrete and steel structure was built in the 1960s to house the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II which operated from 1964 until 1994. DOME is expected to be ready to begin testing in 2026.
In April the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved the Principal Design Criteria (PDC) Topical Report for the eVinci design. PDCs define a reactor’s design bases, or how each part of the reactor’s structures, systems, and components will function and ensure that the design is in line with NRC regulations. PDC approval eases the path to licensing the eVinci microreactor for deployment as and streamlines the licensing process for customers.
This is the latest in a series of licensing milestones for the eVinci microreactor, including approval of the eVinci Advanced Logic System Version 2 instrumentation and control platform.
The eVinci design is a heatpipe-cooled transportable reactor that will be fully factory built, fuelled and assembled, and capable of delivering combined heat (up to 13 MWt) and power (up to 5 MWe). Its small size allows for standard transportation methods and rapid, on-site deployment, with superior reliability and minimal maintenance. It will use TRISO (TRI-structural ISOtropic) nuclear fuel and is one of several advanced reactor designs being supported by DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) intended to accelerate the development and deployment of new reactor technologies.
Westinghouse said its eVinci Licensing Department is now developing the draft Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis, which is the third of four DOE submissions needed to site the eVinci test reactor.
