US-based X-energy has begun vertical (above ground) construction for its TX-1 fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy said the facility will be the first of its kind in the US and will manufacture the X-energy’s proprietary TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic) fuel for its planned Xe-100 reactors.
In August, X-energy subsidiary TRISO-X selected Clark Construction Group for a $48.2m award from DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to complete vertical construction. ARDP funding provides up to 50% cost sharing with X-energy for the ARDP project including construction of the TX-1 fuel fabrication facility.
The group will start building the shell of the 214,812-square-foot facility that is planned to fabricate around 700,000 TRISO fuel pebbles a year, which is enough to fuel 11 Xe-100 small modular reactors (SMRs). The Xe-100 is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with a thermal output of 200 MWt or an electrical output of 80 MWe. It can be scaled into a four-pack 320 MWe power plant. The design evolved from both the UK’s Dragon reactor at Winfrith in Dorset and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor project in South Africa.
TX-1 will be the first of two facilities planned for the site to fabricate the company’s ceramic-encased fuel particles designed to withstand extreme temperatures and retain fission products under all reactor conditions. According to DOE, the facility is on track to be the first Category II fuel fabrication facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is expected to bring more than 400 new jobs to the region.
“The start of vertical construction marks another significant milestone in bringing our bold vision for the future of nuclear energy to life,” said TRISO-X President Joel Duling. “As TX-1 takes shape, it will stand as a symbol of our team’s relentless dedication and determination to bring this transformative project forward in just a few years, not decades.”
In addition to ARDP funding, DOE also awarded X-energy $9m in 2018 to support the initial design of the fuel fabrication facility that later evolved into TX-1.
TRISO-X anticipates regulatory approval by May 2026 and recently received approval from DOE to spend an additional $30m to secure long-lead procurement items to meet the overall project schedule. Operations are projected to start in 2027 with the initial fuel production supporting X-energy’s first commercial reactor, a proposed four-unit plant in partnership with Dow Chemical Company at their chemical plant in Seadrift, Texas. The project is one of two demonstration projects supported by DOE to accelerate the deployment of new reactor technologies.
