Texas-based nuclear startup Aalo Atomics has received the green light from the Idaho operations office of the US Department of Energy (DOE) to pursue further authorisation for deploying its Aalo-X experimental reactor at the site of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Aalo-X will be a full-scale, non-nuclear prototype plant that will be used to test and refine the company’s Aalo-1 technology. Aalo-1 will be a factory-fabricated 10 MW sodium-cooled microreactor that will uranium zirconium hydride fuel, also known as Triga fuel.

The company said in a statement that a preferred site for Aalo-X is “nearing finalisation, setting the stage for construction to begin in the next few years”.