NRC Holds First Public Meeting for X-energy’s Proposed TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility

GREENBELT, Md., Aug. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- X-energy held their first public meeting with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff on August 24, 2018, to discuss our proposed TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility. The purpose of the meeting was to familiarize the NRC staff and the public with the TRISO-X fuel fabrication process and discuss plans to prepare a fuel fabrication facility license application for NRC review and approval. 

X-energy submitted a Regulatory Engagement Plan to the NRC's Nuclear Materials and Safety Safeguards Office on August 8, 2018, defining the pre-application engagement topics relevant to TRISO-X. This public meeting is the first in a series of meetings planned with the NRC. Dr. Pete Pappano, X-energy's Vice President of Fuel Production, stated: "Advanced nuclear reactors are the future of nuclear power. The availability of high assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel and a U.S.-based production line are critical elements for advanced reactor deployment. Our TRISO-X facility will produce fuel for these advanced reactors and potentially accident tolerant fuel (ATF) for the fleet of existing light water reactors (LWRs)."

Dr. Pappano serves as Principal Investigator of X-energy's two U.S. Department of Energy Cooperative Agreements; one that includes TRISO fuel manufacturing research and another for the design and license application development of the TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility.

What is TRISO Fuel Technology
Tristructural Isotropic (TRISO) coated fuels start with a uranium kernel, which is coated with layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide. These coatings encapsulate all product radionuclei under all operating conditions.

About X-energy
X-energy is an advanced nuclear reactor design and TRISO-based fuel fabrication company. X-energy is developing an innovative nuclear power plant design solution. The Xe-100 is a 200MWt (75MWe) high temperature gas-cooled pebble bed modular reactor that requires less time to construct, uses factory-produced components, cannot melt down, and is "walk-away" safe without operator intervention. In concert with Xe-100 design, X-energy is actively producing TRISO-based fuel forms and is implementing pilot scale manufacturing capacities. Reactor and fuel activities are supported by $38.5M in private investment, a five-year $53 DOE Cooperative Agreement for advanced reactor and TRISO fuel research, and a three-year Cooperative Agreement (funded to $10M) for design and license application development of a commercial TRISO-X HALEU fuel fabrication facility. Twitter: @xenergynuclear; Facebook: facebook.com/xenergynuclear, www.x-energy.com

Melanie White Lyons
mlyons@x-energy.com 
301.363.2839
@xenergynuclear

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SOURCE X-energy