Ultra Safe Nuclear

USNC also had the pleasure of hosting Magnus Mori and Alison Poortman of Urenco USA on Tuesday at our PFM facility in Oak Ridge, TN. USNC and Urenco USA previously signed an enrichment services supply agreement (Link: https://lnkd.in/gfved9Pj) as part of the fuel supply program for USNC’s Micro-Modular™ Reactor (MMR®). In this visit, USNC provided an overview of our fuel manufacturing technologies and toured our pilot facility where we are making TRISO and FCM fuel for USNC’s family of nuclear systems. This visit also helped further strengthen our relationship with this vital partner who is solving some of the key challenges on the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle. USNC looks forward to continuing this partnership to support near-term deployment of our nuclear systems. 

It was an absolute pleasure to host Governor of Alaska, Mike Dunleavy, at our Pilot Fuel Manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, TN and to hear his insights on the energy needs and opportunities in the great state of Alaska. We had the opportunity to showcase the large scale TRISO and FCM fuel manufacturing technologies to the Governor. Our Micro Modular Reactor, when fueled with FCM, are perfectly suited to meet the critical and clean energy needs around the globe. RELIABLE ENERGY ANYWHERE

NASA is asking the American aerospace community for feedback on nearly 190 national technology needs – or shortfalls – it has identified for future space exploration and science endeavors. We think NASA is doing an exceptional job identifying and funding the technologies needed for the nuclear space age. We also think acceleration is possible. If you want to help bring about the nuclear space age, please consider adding some feedback. It’s fast and easy. https://lnkd.in/g8th3xzS First, commercially launchable Nuclear Thermal Propulsion vehicles with 900 second ISP and engine T/W > ~3 accomplishes diverse national objectives including Science, Human Exploration, Defense, and emerging commercial endeavors. NASA should build on and go beyond the DARPA DRACO NTP demo program and develop an operational system that goes beyond mars missions to enable a robust space economy. For power in space, needs the ability to deploy large amounts of resilient power assets in space. Deploying scalable, high temperature fission power ensures leadership in space and is key to commercial space endeavors and emerging electric propulsions opportunities. Space power demand will rise dramatically with lunar bases, orbital industrial manufacturing, orbital defense systems, and data in space. NASA can maintain and expand the development program for fission reactors in space. Emerging non-plutonium, commercial radioisotope will enable new exploration operations. NASA needs to continue to support not only the development but the deployment of this new class of radio-isotope sources. An example of how NASA can spur the creation of a new generation radioisotope power systems developed by industry is committing to significant decadal purchases. The space economy is growing rapidly with hundreds of companies developing and delivering new capabilities. USNC is just one piece of the puzzle. Feedback submissions can be made until May 13th. https://lnkd.in/g8th3xzS

USNC was pleased to host a large group of NASA visitors at our Pilot Fuel Manufacturing facility to review all the progress we have made on our Nuclear Thermal Propulsion system over the last year. This included a tour of the facility where we’re making fuel that is being tested in NASA facilities, a detailed overview of USNC’s fuel development progress to support the extreme temperatures in NTP systems, and our innovative solutions to classic NTP design problems.

Humanity is still <1 on the Kardashev scale. We've got a ways to go. Besides expanding solar deployments on Earth, we need master the use of nuclear energy on Earth and in Space. In space, energy is used for propulsion, life support, compute, in situ resource utilization, etc. Same as earth, except we are dealing with the extreme environments of space: vacuum, launch, radiation, extreme temperatures and changes. Nuclear energy is well suited because of its extreme energy density allows for low launch cost and high reliability anywhere in the solar system. The tech is subdivided based on the type and application. Nuclear type refers to how the nuclear bond energy is extracted. Are you utilizing radioisotope decay or nuclear fission? With radioisotope decay, a sample of material releases energy over time according to its half-life. For example, Plutonium-238 releases energy as it turns into Uranium-234, with half the sample decaying every 80 years. These systems can be very small, but their power output cannot be changed. You can’t throttle it up and down. A Nuclear fission reactor requires a significant mass of nuclear fuel to achieve a critical mass. But the power can be changed, and the energy density is about 10x higher than a radioisotope decay source. You can turn it off and use it as needed. As for applications - how will you utilize the energy of the fissions and decays. The most typical way is to convert the thermal energy to electricity using thermo electrics, thermo photovoltaics, or Stirling engines. You can also use a turbine setup like a Helium/Xenon Brayton cycle. You can then use the electricity for whatever you want including electric propulsion. There are also other more direct ways to produce thrust. For example, you can utilize the thermal energy to directly heat a propulsion gas like hydrogen in a nuclear thermal propulsion engine. Even more directly, you can use the fission products from the fission reactions or decay products as the exhaust to create the desired thrusts. --- Many possibilities will be presented at the ANS Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS) this week in Santa Fe, New Mexico. If you can't make the conference, please reply with particular sessions or papers you'd like reporting on. Click on a session to see the papers https://lnkd.in/gb2ZmY9D

Earlier this month, the Oak Ridge/Knoxville chapter of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) section toured USNC's Pilot Fuel line to see how TRISO particle fuel is made. We could tell they really love all things nuclear! For everyone else who has yet to make a visit: https://lnkd.in/gqW2XAch

Maybe bringing TRISO manufacturing back to the USA deserves an exhibit? American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation came to our Pilot Fuel Manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge for a first hand look at our next generation nuclear fuels. It was a great opportunity to showcase the #science and #technology being utilized in our #nuclearenergy and hear more about how #AMSE is inspiring and educating the community! They have 4 excellent museums in the Oak Ridge area. Donald Gustavson Christy Hembree

USNC was honored to host leaders of the NASA Glenn Research Center Fission Surface Power (FSP) team at our Pilot Fuel Manufacturing (PFM) facility in Oak Ridge, TN. During the visit, we provided an overview of our terrestrial and space-focused family of products (MMR, Pylon, NTP, and EmberCore), and the special-purpose fuel and materials capabilities we’ve developed to meet the needs of these advanced systems. We had excellent discussions and got to show off our state-of-the-art facility for the production of TRi-structural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel particles and Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM®) fuel. FCM fuel is excellent for space applications due to its flexible geometry enabled by additive manufacturing and much higher fuel loading than traditional TRISO manufacturing methods. Kurt Terrani Larry Huebner Neal Gaffin Robert Bruckner Monica Guzik Tyler Steiner Mark Lefebvre Andrew Presby Brian Ade

We’ve received positive feedback from NRC on the UIUC Event Scenario Identification and SSC Safety Classification Methodology Topical Report. Look forward to continued submissions and feedback with US NRC. On March 7, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a safety evaluation approving the topical report submitted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and USNC entitled “University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign High Temperature Gas-cooled Research Reactor: Event Sequence Identification and SSC Safety Classification Methodology.” The report describes the event sequence identification methodology and safety classification methodology to be applied to the UIUC Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) research reactor. The methodologies will be used in the forthcoming preliminary safety analysis report and final safety analysis report for the proposed UIUC MMR. The NRC staff determined that the report provides acceptable methodologies to identify events, and to classify MMR systems, structures, and components. The staff determined that the methodologies described represent a well-defined approach that could reasonably be expected to be implemented in a manner that would align with the intent of the applicable guidance and regulations. This timely approval by the NRC represents a significant milestone for USNC. Application of these approved methodologies provides assurance that these aspects of USNC’s design process satisfy the NRC’s rigorous regulatory requirements and reduces risk in subsequent license applications. For more info on the UIUC Microreactor Demo Project, visit https://lnkd.in/e4hhKiHW

One report at a time, and backed up by a boatload of hardware, we are one step closer to supplying the rising demand for TRISO fuel in the USA.   On Monday, March 11, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and USNC submitted a topical report entitled “University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign High-Temperature Gas-cooled Research Reactor: Fuel Qualification Methodology” to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The topical report describes the Fuel Qualification Methodology for the USNC Micro Modular Reactor (MMR®) to be deployed at UIUC. This milestone is a significant step in the licensing of USNC’s Fully Ceramic Micro-encapsulated (FCM®) annular fuel and USNC’s MMR.   The methodology is based on international and U.S. operating experience with TRISO fuel particles, including the extensive irradiation testing and post-irradiation safety testing by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program.   The methodology serves as an input to USNC’s comprehensive fuel qualification plan which will demonstrate that the FCM fuel design is capable of safe operation during all anticipated conditions. The review and approval of this report during the pre-licensing phase will reduce regulatory risk and improve the certainty of the review schedule of subsequent license applications.   Please visit https://lnkd.in/gatrkv5s for more info.