X-Energy announced the completion of a Reactor Protection System (RPS) prototype, a key safety feature of the company’s Xe-100 small modular nuclear reactor.
The prototype utilizes Paragon’s highly integrated protection system. X-energy worked with Paragon for two years to develop, deliver, install, and test the RPS prototype in the company’s control room simulator at its Rockville, Maryland headquarters. Paragon would build and deliver the four-division RPS to all Xe-100 plants around the world when they are deployed.
The RPS is a set of independent and redundant instrumentation and control components that enable the nuclear reactor to automatically and safely shut down, providing an added layer of protection for the plant and its environment.
X-energy said Paragon’s system’s structure and design insulate it from coding errors and reduce cybersecurity risks, thus addressing regulatory concerns about digital safety systems.
X-energy’s Xe-100 SMR is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. The Maryland-based company is also developing its proprietary tri-structural isotropic (“TRISO”) encapsulated particle fuel, TRISO-X.
X-energy completed the basic design of the Xe-100, a development announced by the U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear office in August.
The company plans to try to license the reactor through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The goal is to have a unit operational by 2028, starting with a 320 MW four-unit Xe-100 power plant in Washington state.
X-energy said its SMR can address a broad range of uses, including applications that currently rely on fossil fuels to produce steam and heat for processes like manufacturing, petroleum refining and hydrogen production.
The company also hopes to license the country’s first commercial facility dedicated to fueling HALEU-based reactors as part of DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). The company submitted their application to build this facility in early April. According to DOE, it could be operational as soon as 2025.
The DOE said the fuel fabrication facility has the capacity to produce eight metric tons per year of TRISO pebble fuel, enough to power 12 of X-energy’s proposed Xe-100 SMRs. The facility would also be capable of manufacturing TRISO fuel for other advanced reactor designs. X-energy said it plans to double its fuel production by the 2030s.
