The US Department of Energy’s Idaho Operations Office has approved the documented safety analysis (DSA) for Aalo Atomics’ Aalo-X Critical Test Reactor (CTR), moving the company towards its final pre-operations phase for the advanced nuclear plant, the operational readiness review.

The DSA is the authoritative safety basis for a DOE nuclear facility. It demonstrates in detail that a facility can be operated safely across its full range of normal, off-normal and accident conditions.

Aalo Atomics said it is one of the most rigorous regulatory processes in the DOE process. For a commercial reactor, the closest procedure would be the final safety analysis report issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Because the Aalo-X CTR is an experimental facility located on DOE land, it is being authorised under the DOE framework rather than the NRC framework. The regulatory rigour is nevertheless comparable, Aalo Atomics said.