"X-Energy's license under 10 CFR part 70 enables its subsidiary TRISO-X to manufacture the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel pellets that will eventually power that reactor. The company boasts its TX-1 and TX-2 fuel plants are the first such facilities to receive approval in half a century, though we'll note they're not exactly finished. X-Energy expects to complete construction of the first site later this year, and it can't start churning out pellets until it passes an on-site inspection by the NRC to ensure it's safe."
"For safety's sake, the enriched uranium is formed into small TRISO fuel particles coated in multiple layers of carbon and ceramic materials, which are then embedded in graphite to form pebbles roughly the size of a billiard ball. Hundreds of thousands of these pebbles will be circulated through the reactor continuously. In the case of the Xe-100, heat generated by this process will be captured using helium gas and then used to produce steam to drive a turbine."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed X-Energy's TRISO-X to manufacture high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel pellets at Oak Ridge, Tennessee under 10 CFR part 70. The license advances commercial deployment of Xe-100 small modular reactors and clears a regulatory hurdle. X-Energy says its TX-1 and TX-2 plants are the first such approvals in half a century; TX-1 construction should finish later this year. Pellet production requires a successful on-site NRC inspection before operation. Enriched uranium is made into multilayer-coated TRISO particles embedded in graphite to form billiard-ball-sized pebbles; helium will capture heat to produce steam. Each Xe-100 should generate about 80 MW continuously for 60 years. Amazon invested $500 million in X-Energy to power datacenter expansion and reduce grid dependence.
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