4th-gen nuclear reactors near US launch as advanced fuel line goes live

BWX Technologies (BWXT) has launched a new production line for Uranium Nitride TRISO fuel at its Lynchburg Technology Center in Virginia, marking a significant step toward supporting Generation IV nuclear reactors. The completion of a chemical vapor infiltration furnace enabled the line to become operational, allowing the facility to produce additively manufactured fuel forms with a higher density of TRISO particles per pellet. TRISO fuel particles feature a uranium core surrounded by carbon and silicon carbide layers designed to contain fission products at extremely high temperatures, enhancing fuel efficiency and potentially reducing reactor system costs. This initiative is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), which backs BWXT’s BANR high-temperature gas microreactor design. BWXT’s new line focuses on uranium nitride fuel, distinct from its existing uranium oxycarbide TRISO fuel used in the Department of Defense’s Project Pele. The company collaborates with Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to test