Xe-100
US
Basics
Reactor Type
Gas Cooled Reactor
Gas cooled reactor
Primary heat transport: mostly CO2 or helium gas
Primary heat transport: mostly CO2 or helium gas
Reactor Description
High temperature pebble bed GCR
HTGR fuel element form consisting of movable spherical elements
The fuel elements of tennis-ball size are called pebbles
The fuel elements of tennis-ball size are called pebbles
Electric Output (MWe)
82
Thermal Output (MWt)
200
Size
Small
'Small' size
Electric output of between 10 MWe and 100 MWe
Electric output of between 10 MWe and 100 MWe
Spectrum
Thermal
Kinetic neutron energy of 0.000…0.025 eV
Slow or cold neutron / moderated neutron spectrum
Slow or cold neutron / moderated neutron spectrum
Developer
X-Energy LLC
Pilot Site Details
Dow Chemical facility in Seadrift, Texas and Energy Northwest's Richland site, Washington
Details
Use (goal of commercial operation)
N/A
Deployment medium
Land-based
Design Lifetime (Years)
60
Fuel
Fuel class
HALEU
High-assay low enriched uranium
Uranium enriched to 5…20 percent U-235
Uranium enriched to 5…20 percent U-235
Fuel Type
TRISO Pebble
Tristructural isotropic (nuclear fuel)
Consists of movable spherical elements of tennis-ball size called pebbles
Consists of movable spherical elements of tennis-ball size called pebbles
Fuel Cycle
N/A
Refuelling Cycle
N/A
Cooling & Temperature
Reactor cooling of primary loop
Helium
Reactor moderator
Graphite
Crystalline allotrope of element carbon
Special quality characteristics as moderator
Special quality characteristics as moderator
Reactor Outlet Temperature (°C)
750
Status
Design status
Basic design
Licensing status
- Jan 2024 - Completed phases 1 and 2 of...
- Jan 2024 - Completed phases 1 and 2 of the pre-licencing vendor design review (VDR) process of Canada's CNSC
- In 2021 - NRC and CNSC conducted joint review of RPV white paper report
- Jul 2020 - Agreement signed for combined pre-licencing vendor design review (VDR) with Canadian regulator CNSC
- Sep 2018 - Started pre-application activities with US regulator NRC. Dozens of topical reports filled since then.
Deployment timeline
First demonstrator aimed for 2028
Agreements and Engagement
- Oct 2024: Amazon announced...
- Oct 2024: Amazon announced buying a stake in developer X-energy
- Apr 2024 - X-energy UK and Cavendish Nuclear were awarded £3.34m by UK government to develop plans for 12-reactor plant at Hartlepool, northern England in 2030s
- Jul 2023 - Energy Northwest and X-energy have signed an agreement for a potential deployment of up to 12 Xe-100 in central Washington state
- May 2023 - Dow and X-energy chose Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations manufacturing site in Texas for a proposed pilot Xe-100 plant
- Jan 2023 - X-energy and Invest Alberta signed a MoU to develop economic opportunities supporting the potential deployment of Xe-100 in the province
- Oct 2022 - Work began on the construction of a $300m nuclear fuel fabrication plant for TRISO fuel at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
- Aug 2022 - X-energy and Dow Chemicals signed agreement for deployment of Xe-100 at unnamed Gulf Coast site
- Jul 2022 - Ontario Power Generation and X-energy signed agreement to explore deployment of the Xe-100 at industrial sites in Ontario
- In 2020 - X-energy was selected as one of the two awardees of funding under the US DOE Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) for a seven-year period
