US company to perform Unity nuclear battery test at Idaho National Laboratory
US advanced reactor company Deployable Energy announced that the US Department of Energy (DOE) has approved the documented safety analysis for its Unity nuclear battery test at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The company said the approval is a regulatory milestone before proceeding to criticality and follows completion of a DOE safety review process.
A statement said the documented safety analysis covers core engineering and safety analysis for the planned test and supports continued work towards deployment of the company’s microreactor technology.
According to earlier reports, the criticality test aims generate early data for design, manufacturing and future licensing work.
Bobby Gallagher, co-founder and chief executive of Deployable Energy, said the milestone positions the company to move towards criticality and later operational testing.
Deployable Energy said its 1-MW gas-cooled microreactor technology is designed to provide power in locations where traditional energy infrastructure may be “unavailable, vulnerable or impractical”.
The company said it has also received the full core of low-enriched uranium fuel for the Unity nuclear battery and will proceed with final preparations towards DOE authorisation and commissioning activities at INL.
Earlier this year, the company delivered its criticality test rig to INL following a cross-country road trip in a Ford truck, underscoring the compact and deployable nature of the Unity system.
In April, Deployable Energy was selected for the DOE’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, an INL-based programme designed to give private developers access to national laboratory expertise, infrastructure and testing for advanced nuclear technologies.
