The Department of Energy has formalized its plans to build an advanced reactor at one of its national laboratories, the agency said in a press release this week.
In a record of decision document, DOE said it would aim to build its Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) at Idaho National Laboratory, the agency said. If Congress appropriates funds for the project, the sodium-cooled fast reactor design would be the first fast-spectrum test reactor to operate in the United States in around 30 years, the agency’s Wednesday statement said.
“The VTR project would help modernize U.S. nuclear energy research and development infrastructure and dramatically accelerate the technology development for current and next-generation reactors,” DOE said.
In its March budget request, DOE asked for about $45 million in funding for the VTR in the 2023 fiscal year. Congress refused to fund the project in its omnibus spending package for 2022.
The record of decision comes as DOE in May published a final environmental safety review for the project. Agency staff recommended at the time building the VTR at a “suitable” agency site, preferably at Idaho National Lab’s Materials and Fuels Complex.
Spent fuel from the VTR would be treated on-site, a process designed to “condition and transform the spent nuclear fuel into a form that would meet the acceptance criteria for a future permanent repository,” DOE said in the environmental review. In the meantime, that waste would be kept on a storage pad to be built at the national lab.
DOE started the VTR project in 2018. If it becomes operational, the agency has said the test reactor would be used to reduce the time needed to develop nuclear fuels, materials and reactor components.
