X-energy is an American private nuclear reactor and fuel design engineering company. It is developing a
Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled
pebble-bed nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...
design. Since its founding in 2009, it has received various government grants and contracts, notably through the
Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rel ...
's (DOE) Advanced Reactor Concept Cooperative Agreement in 2016 and its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) in 2020.
History
The company was founded in 2009 by Kam Ghaffarian.
In January 2016, X-energy was awarded a five-year $53-million award as part of the DOE's Advanced Reactor Concept Cooperative Agreement to advance elements of their reactor development. In 2019, X-energy received funding from the
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
to develop small military reactors for use at forward bases.
Former
Deputy Secretary of Energy of the DOE,
Clay Sell
J. Clay Sell (born April 28, 1967) is the CEO of X-energy, a U.S. based, privately-owned company that develops small modular nuclear reactors and advanced fuel technologyHALEU for clean energy generation. Sell previously served as United States D ...
, was appointed CEO of X-energy in 2019.
In October 2020, the company was chosen by the DOE as a recipient of a matching grant totaling between $400 million and $4 billion over the next 5 to 7 years for the cost of building a demonstration reactor of their Xe-100, helium-cooled
pebble-bed reactor
The pebble-bed reactor (PBR) is a design for a graphite- moderated, gas-cooled nuclear reactor. It is a type of very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR), one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative.
The basic des ...
design. This is part of the DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, which also awarded the same grant to
TerraPower
TerraPower is an American nuclear reactor design and development engineering company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. TerraPower is developing a class of nuclear fast reactors termed traveling wave reactors (TWR).
TWR places a small core ...
.
In 2022
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...
agreed to act as the preferred supplier of 3 critical components of the Xe-100 reactor. The initial installation of the reactor is projected to be for
Energy Northwest
Energy Northwest (formerly Washington Public Power Supply System) is a public power joint operating agency in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, formed in 1957 by Washington (state), Washington state law to produce at-cost power for ...
in
Washington State
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
.
Reactor design
The Xe-100 is a
pebble bed high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor design that is planned to be smaller, simpler and safer when compared to conventional nuclear designs. Pebble bed high temperature gas-cooled reactors were first proposed in 1944. Each reactor is planned to generate 200
MWt and approximately 76 MWe. The fuel for the Xe-100 is a spherical fuel element, or pebble, that utilizes the tristructural isotropic (
TRISO
Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission.
Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...
) particle nuclear fuel design, with Uranium
enriched to 20%, to allow for longer periods between refueling. X-energy claims that TRISO fuel will make nuclear meltdowns virtually impossible.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
External links
Official website
Nuclear power companies of the United States