Tennessee plant will produce around 700,000 Triso fuel pebbles each year
X-energy announced the start of vertical construction for its TX-1 fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The Maryland, US-based company said the facility will be the first of its kind in the US and will manufacture the company’s proprietary Triso fuel for its commercial reactors.
X-energy subsidiary Triso-X recently selected Clark Construction Group for a $48.2m (€41.8m) award as part of the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) to complete vertical construction. ARDP funding provides up to 50% cost sharing with X-energy for their Xe-100 Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project, including construction of the TX-1 fuel fabrication facility.
The group will start building the shell of the 214,812 sq ft (19,900 sq m) facility that will be used to fabricate around 700,000 Triso fuel pebbles each year, which is enough fuel for 11 Xe-100 small modular reactors.
TX-1 will be the first of two facilities planned for the site to fabricate the company’s ceramic fuel designed to withstand extreme temperatures and retain fission products under all reactor conditions.
In addition to ARDP funding, the U.S. Department of Energy also awarded X-energy $9m in 2018 to support the initial design of the company's fuel fabrication facility that later evolved into TX-1.
Triso-X anticipates regulatory approval by May 2026 and recently received approval from the DOE to spend an additional $30m to secure long-lead procurement items to adhere to the overall project schedule.
Operations are projected to start the following year with the initial fuel production supporting X-energy’s first commercial reactor, a proposed four-unit plant in partnership with Dow Chemical Company at their chemical plant in Seadrift, Texas.
The proposed Long Mott Generating Station at Seadrift would be the first advanced nuclear facility to power an industrial site in the US.
