TerraPower and X-energy will each receive an initial $80M award to build and demonstrate advanced nuclear reactors under cost-shared partnership agreements with the Department of Energy.
DOE said Tuesday it plans to invest as much as $3.2B over a seven-year period to help industry partners complete reactor projects and license the operational systems for commercial use.
TerraPower aims to demonstrate a sodium-cooled energy storage and power production system developed with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and stand up a metal fuel factory to address the program requirements.
The team's Natrium architecture is designed to complement power from renewable energy sources, DOE noted.
X-energy will base the design of its four-unit nuclear reactor on the company's Xe-100 gas-cooled system that was made for industrial heat processing and establish a facility for TRi-structural ISOtropic fuel fabrication.
