First FY2024 recipients of GAIN vouchers announced
21 December 2023
The federally funded vouchers aim to accelerate the innovation and application of advanced nuclear technologies by providing companies access to the extensive nuclear research capabilities and expertise of the US Department of Energy's national laboratory complex.
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ARC Clean Technology, developer of this 100 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor, is one of the recipients (Image: X/@GovNuclear)
GAIN - Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear - is an initiative launched in 2016 by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy which helps businesses overcome critical technological and commercialisation challenges of nuclear energy technologies through a voucher system, giving stakeholders access to the DOE's R&D facilities and infrastructure to support the cost-effective development of innovative nuclear energy technologies. All awardees are responsible for a minimum 20% cost-share, which could be an in-kind contribution.
The recipients of the first GAIN vouchers for 2024 are:
- Westinghouse Electric Company, to work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to perform irradiation testing and associated post-irradiation examination on a ceramic matrix composite for potential use in the eVinci microreactor.
- SHINE Technologies, to partner with Argonne National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory to assess sensor technologies and their placement in a fuel recycling system to ensure nuclear materials are adequately tracked.
- Aalo Atomics, to collaborate with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to evaluate modelling and simulation capabilities for the fuel and core system of the Aalo-1 microreactor which is inspired by INL's planned MARVEL reactor.
- ARC Clean Technology, Inc, to work with Argonne National Laboratory to update its simulation software with additional passive heat removal capabilities to better model its sodium-cooled reactor design.
- Global Nuclear Fuels - Americas, to partner with Argonne National Laboratory to confirm the viability of their electroreduction technology to convert uranium oxide fuel stock into a metal that can be used for advanced reactor fuel.
- Boston Atomics, to collaborate with Oak Ridge National Laboratory on a design review of an in-vessel fuel handling machine for a horizontally oriented integrated reactor and steam generator.
- Energy Northwest, to work with Argonne National Laboratory to use climate forecasting for the next century to inform the design and selection of future nuclear reactor cooling systems and their impacts on electricity cost.
GAIN's announcement contains links to further information on all the proposals that have been selected to receive vouchers.
Four rounds of GAIN Nuclear Energy Vouchers are planned for FY2024.
Researched and written by World Nuclear News