What’s involved: Aalo expects to test its “fully modular civil construction technology for the reactor building and balance-of-plant,” as well as the Aalo-X itself.
The company says it has obtained an “official DOE letter allowing Aalo to pursue DOE authorization for the Aalo-X,” which “clears the way to continue progressing toward rapid construction on the experimental reactor at this site within the next two years.”
Aalo expects to use Aalo-X to “thoroughly test advanced safety mechanisms, validate fuel performance, optimize system efficiency, and determine capacity factor.”
On the site: Because the site it has tentatively been offered is adjacent to the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC), it is well-characterized from environmental, seismic, and cultural perspectives and will expedite the project “by allowing us to move forward without extensive preliminary assessments typically required for undisturbed land,” according Aalo.
The company reports it is one year into the design of Aalo-X. According to the DOE, the Aalo “expects to complete the [authorization] process in less than two years, potentially starting construction as early as 2026 with operations starting in 2027.” Aalo is working with INL through a GAIN voucher to gather performance data to support the company’s design and licensing activities.
“We’re thrilled to take this next step with the Department of Energy as we work to bring decades of sodium-cooled reactor expertise into a new era of factory-built energy solutions,” said Yasir Arafat, chief technology officer and cofounder of Aalo Atomics.
MARVEL links: Arafat was formerly the project lead for MARVEL, a tiny 85-kWt sodium-potassium–cooled test reactor being built inside INL’s Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility.
The MARVEL project was announced in 2021, and as recently as May 2023 its operation as a microreactor test bed was anticipated “by the end of 2024.” In February 2024, the DOE announced that fuel production for MARVEL had begun, and that “fuel loading for MARVEL is anticipated to occur in 2026, with the microreactor expected to be on line by 2027.”
