National Reactor Innovation Center
The NRIC team is committed to tackling the necessary tasks and challenges to identify and fill gaps that hinder advancing nuclear energy. This includes engaging with regulators and stakeholders and enhancing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory infrastructure and capabilities.
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Test experimental reactors and gather data to support the transition toward commercial deployment.
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Advance nuclear technologies through streamlined technical and regulatory pathways from demonstration toward commercial deployment.
NRIC Team
Meet the NRIC leaders and technical experts supporting advanced nuclear technology development and deployment.
Oklo to advance Groves 2 Forge as part of U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad selection
Oklo Inc., an advanced nuclear technology company, today announced it would advance the Groves isotope production facility (Groves 2 Forge) as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative. Through the initiative, Oklo’s Groves 2 Forge will build on the demonstration experience from Oklo’s Groves Isotope Test Reactor while including capabilities to produce, process, and purify critical isotopes.
News Release Deployable Energy selected to test its nuclear battery at DOME
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center selected Deployable Energy to test the company’s nuclear battery technology inside the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments, or DOME, testbed at the Idaho National Laboratory in 2027.
Lightbridge secures access to Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor Loop Facility to irradiate Clad Lightbridge Fuel rodlets under prototypic commercial reactor conditions
Lightbridge Corporation (“Lightbridge” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: LTBR), an advanced nuclear fuel technology company, today announced that it has entered into Project Task Statement (PTS) No. 2 under its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), the U.S. Department of Energy's operating contractor for Idaho National Laboratory (INL), securing access to the loop testing facility of INL's Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) for the irradiation of clad Lightbridge Fuel™ rodlets.
Raven-Flint wins DOE backing for U.S. uranium conversion plant
Raven-Flint was selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s NRIC Nuclear Energy Launch Pad to advance a domestic uranium conversion project. The company is developing a conversion process that does not use elemental fluorine.
Radiant wins $750M contract from U.S. Army to delivery energy independence to U.S. military bases
Radiant, the company building the world’s only plug-in ready, transportable commercial nuclear microreactors, today announced that the U.S. Army, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), has executed a binding agreement totaling up to $750 million dollars to develop and deploy 15 Kaleidos nuclear microreactors through the Army’s Janus Program. Radiant’s award is one of the largest contracts ever issued by DIU across their portfolio, and the largest award within the Janus Program.
Lightbridge Corporation (“Lightbridge” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: LTBR), an advanced nuclear fuel technology company, today announced that it has been selected to participate in the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad INL, administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) National Reactor Innovation Center (“NRIC”) at Idaho National Laboratory (“INL”). Selection provides an accelerated pathway toward DOE authorization for Lightbridge to design, build, and operate a dedicated facility at INL to manufacture Lead Test Assemblies (“LTAs”) of Lightbridge Fuel — the Company’s proprietary metallic nuclear fuel — for testing in U.S. commercial power reactors. LTAs represent the final fuel qualification stage between reactor testing and commercial fuel sales. Lightbridge now has an accelerated pathway to establishing manufacturing capability for producing LTAs.