The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative awarded vouchers today to three business to help support siting activities of advanced reactors and the development of a new recycling process for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel. All three companies will gain access to the research capabilities and expertise of Oak Ridge National Laboratory at no cost to the recipients to help advance their projects.

 

Curio Solutions (Washington, D.C.) will work with ORNL to evaluate equipment design concepts for its NuCycleTM process. The project specifically works to determine the criticality safety limits of the equipment that their fuel recycling concept would use to contain fissile material in various chemical forms.

 

Elementl Power (Greer, SC) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (Chattanooga, TN) will both work on separate projects with ORNL experts to leverage the lab’s Oak Ridge Siting Analysis for power Generation Expansion (OR-SAGE) tool to help identify potential advanced reactor development sites in specific regions in the U.S. and in the Tennessee Valley Authority service area.  

 

GAIN voucher recipients do not receive direct financial awards. The vouchers provide funding to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories to help businesses overcome critical technological and commercialization challenges. All awardees are responsible for a minimum 20 percent cost share, which could be an in-kind contribution. 

GAIN was established by DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy and provides the nuclear community with the technical, regulatory, and financial support necessary to move innovative nuclear technologies toward commercialization while ensuring the continued, safe, and economic operation of the existing fleet. 

Today’s vouchers are the fourth awarded for FY 2022.

Original source can be found _here.