Kaleidos microreactor begins journey to Idaho

"We said we'd make a microreactor that is transportable by land, sea and air. We did. Kaleidos is traveling more than 1,000 miles on a trailer bed," the company said. 

Radiant's reactor was selected last year to undergo testing at the DOME (for Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments) test bed, where the repurposed containment structure of a former experimental breeder reactor provides a safe environment to test experimental reactor concepts and gather performance data.

Radiant is to carry out a five-phase reactor development testing programme at the facility, progressing from zero-power criticality, through to generating full heat and power and running 150 continuous hours without operator assistance, a crucial milestone for proving its commercial readiness.

_{Radiant shared video of Kaleidos as it began its journey in El Segundo, California on 12 August (Image: Radiant/X)}

"The unit now on its way to Idaho isn't a simplified stand-in," Radiant said. "Kaleidos is the same design, at the same scale, with the same commercial fuel load, that will roll off the production line at Radiant's R-50 factory in Oak Ridge and ship to customers. Every phase of testing it undergoes, from criticality to 1 MWe thermal operation, to full power, and a capstone 150-hour continuous run without operator intervention, generates data that feeds directly into Radiant's NRC licence application and de-risks manufacturing and deployment at commercial scale."

Once installed inside the DOME, the reactor will be loaded under US Department of Energy and INL oversight with tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, fabricated by Standard Nuclear to Radiant's specifications earlier this year. The testing campaign is targeted for completion in the third quarter of this year. At the same time, Radiant's Part 70 licence application for its R-50 microreactor production facility in Oak Ridge, Tennesee, is undergoing review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with approval targeted by the final quarter of the year.

Radiant signed an agreement with the US Air Force to deliver its first commercial microreactor to a military installation, Buckley Space Force Base, by 2028. "Radiant's testing campaign will ensure we deliver Kaleidos to Buckley Space Force Base by 2028," the company said.