Efforts made under DOE microreactor experiments programme
Westinghouse Electric Company has submitted a preliminary safety design report (PSDR) for its eVinci microreactor to the US Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Centre (NRIC) in a move towards potentially siting a demonstrator project at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
Westinghouse said in a statement this is the first time a reactor developer has reached “this milestone” on the path to deploying a test reactor at NRIC’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (Dome) test bed at INL.
The PSDR follows a recently completed front-end engineering and experiment design process and is key to Westinghouse’s goal of deploying the eVinci microreactor globally by 2030, the statement said.
“The completion of the PSDR for the eVinci test reactor is an important step towards enabling a microreactor developer to perform a test in our Dome facility,” said Brad Tomer, acting director of NRIC.
The preliminary safety design report is a document that outlines the safety design aspects of a nuclear reactor or other complex systems and typically includes assessments of potential risks, operational guidelines, and safety measures needed to ensure the safe development and operation of the reactor.
Westinghouse said next steps will include the development of a timeline for an “end-to-end” reactor test programme at INL, along with a preliminary documented safety analyses submission. This will be the third of four DOE submissions needed for Westinghouse to install the test reactor at the Dome test bed.
NRIC is a DOE initiative designed to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactor technologies.
Hosted at INL, NRIC provides resources and facilities for private companies and researchers to test, demonstrate, and validate new reactor designs.
Westinghouse said NRIC’s objective is to create four new experimental facilities and two large reactor test beds by 2028 for comprehensive technology demonstrations and experiments, and to finalise two advanced nuclear technology experiments by 2030.
According to earlier reports, eVinci is a very small modular reactor for decentralised heat and power generation including off-grid sites, remote communities, disaster recovery, industrial sites, defence facilities, marine propulsion, hydrogen generation, and water purification among others.
The small size of the eVinci reactor, between 5-10 MW, will allow for easier transportation and rapid onsite installation, Westinghouse has previously said. The reactor has very few moving parts and works essentially as a battery.
The test reactor, a one-fifth scale representation of an actual eVinci microreactor, will enable design finalisation, testing and licensing of the technology, Westinghouse has said.
In October 2023, the DOE awarded $3.9m (€3.5m) to three US-based advanced nuclear energy technologies – Radiant’s Kaleidos, Ultra Safe’s Pylon and Westinghouse’s eVinci – to design experiments to test microreactor designs in the INL’s Dome test bed.
