A start-up company has turned on a nuclear test reactor that could someday help humans live on the moon.
Antares Nuclear’s test at the remote Idaho National Lab on June 4 was a “historic moment for American energy,” according to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
“For the first time in more than four decades, a new privately developed non-light-water reactor has reached criticality in the United States,” Wright said in a press release.
Reaching "criticality" is a preliminary step towards putting reactors on the market. It means turning on a reactor for the first time and safely controlling a nuclear fission reaction. This initial test from Antares didn’t produce any electricity.
“We’ve made neutrons. Next up, electrons,” Antares CEO Jordan Bramble said in a video.
The company says it’s planning to test a reactor that produces electricity in 2027 and deploy them the following year.
Those could power lunar and deep space missions, including helping humans live on the moon.
Antares also already has agreements with the U.S. military to power remote bases “where the grid might not be as reliable and where it's difficult to bring the liquid fuel supply,” Tom Mancinelli, the company’s head of strategy and policy, said in an interview before the initial test.
The reactor went critical one month ahead of a July 4 goal from the U.S. Department of Energy. The federal agency set that deadline for at least three companies in a pilot program, including Antares.
Other companies testing their reactors at the Idaho lab, including Aalo and Radiant Nuclear, could be next. Radiant is testing its reactor in a dome facility at the lab. Another company, Valar Atomics, is slated to test at the San Rafael Energy Lab lab in Utah.
The energy department has fast tracked licensing for these reactors and others in an attempt to usher in what it hopes to be a “nuclear renaissance.”
Edwin Lyman, Nuclear Power Safety Director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he worries this accelerated timeline could result in mistakes, saying the energy department is “essentially stripping down the safety and security oversight of these new projects to see how quickly they can be licensed and built.”
“I don't think cutting corners when you're talking about nuclear safety is a good idea,” Lyman said in an early March interview.
Antares went from having a concept to having a critical reactor in less than a year, though Mancinelli said the company is checking all the safety boxes.
“Nuclear energy is actually among the safest and most tightly regulated energy sources that generates the type of reliable, emissions-free power that our country is going to need as electricity prices continue to increase,” Mancinelli said.
Energy demand is anticipated to rise amid a data center boom. Many of these data centers, such as one planned for southwest Wyoming, plan to rely on small nuclear reactors for carbon-free energy.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
