The DOD, like other enterprises, also is looking at ways to reduce or eliminate the use of diesel and other fuels to provide power generation in remote areas. Department of Energy during testing, and looking at the Department of Defense (DOD) as its primary market, as the DOD seeks a way to provide power to military bases in areas where access to electricity is not available. One of the benefits of the portable system is that it’s so small, we can autonomously operate it.” DOD a Primary Customerīernauer said Radiant is operating under the auspices of the U.S. “Cost optimization, a reduced power peaking factor … that’s all part of our design,” Bernauer said, noting the microreactor’s portability provides “freedom and optimization. The use of microreactors to expand distributed power generation is part of a trend toward providing electricity to remote areas, as well as to military bases and commercial operations that need access to power but are far from the traditional grid. INL earlier this year chose an Oklo-designed microreactor as the first to receive high-assay, low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, nuclear fuel from the laboratory to support a first-of-its-kind demonstration of Oklo’s Aurora microreactor. and Southern Nuclear, along with the Nuclear Energy Institute, Westinghouse, and the National Reactor Innovation Center. The microreactor discussion will include executives from NuScale Power, Southern Co. An extra day of sessions has been added for the virtual event. The event moved online when the in-person Distributed Energy Conference was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Microreactors will be part of the discussion at POWER’s virtual Distributed Energy Experience, scheduled for Oct. Ashley Finan, Director of NRIC at INL, in a statement. This is an opportunity to innovate in ways that bring a cleaner energy future,” said Dr. It’s part of our mission to empower innovators, and deliver successful outcomes. “The National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) looks forward to working with Radiant to test its portable nuclear microreactor at Idaho National Laboratory. The company’s 1-MW-plus design makes it suitable to power small neighborhoods, remote commercial sites, and military bases. Radiant’s microreactor is being developed for use in locations where other forms of power generation may not be practical, or even available. One of the technical upgrades decreases the time and cost for refueling the reactor the other enables more-efficient heat transport from the reactor core.īattelle Energy Alliance, the contractor that manages operations at the Idaho National Laboratory, and Radiant recently signed a memorandum of understanding seeking collaboration for development and testing of the technology. Radiant on Tuesday announced it has received two provisional patents for its advances in portable nuclear reactors. “Nobody has a system yet, so there’s kind of a race to be the first.” Patents for Upgrades “A lot of the microreactors being developed are fixed location,” Bernauer said. Bernauer said he thinks microreactors hold the most promise to supply power for settlements on Mars, and during his research he saw an immediate opportunity to utilize the technology on Earth, which led him to found Radiant along with two other SpaceX colleagues. Bernauer is a former SpaceX engineer who while there worked on developing energy sources for an eventual Mars colony. “Radiant is developing the first power generation system that can go anywhere,” company co-founder Doug Bernauer told POWER in an interview on Sept. 22 said it has raised $1.2 million from angel investors as it designs what the company calls a “clean energy alternative to fossil fuels for military and commercial applications.” Radiant executives said the funding is a combination of cash and cost-share commitments to support development of its more than 1-MW microreactor. Radiant, founded by former SpaceX engineers, on Sept. A California company is gathering funding for development of a portable nuclear microreactor, designed for use in areas where other forms of power generation are not practical.
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