The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment and will have a public meeting and online seminar Wednesday about issuing a construction permit for a proposed test reactor in Oak Ridge.
The NRC has issued a draft environmental impact statement for the construction permit for a Kairos Hermes Test Reactor. The nuclear reactor would not produce electricity, but it would test Kairos Power’s fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor technology, according to the NRC.
Completed in September, the draft environmental impact statement includes the NRC staff’s preliminary analysis of the environmental impacts of issuing a construction permit to Kairos.
“After weighing the environmental, economic, technical, and other benefits against environmental and other costs, the NRC staff’s preliminary recommendation, unless safety issues mandate otherwise, is that the operating license be issued as requested,” the NRC said in a notice published in the Federal Register.
Kairos Power, based in California, wants its reactor to be able to compete with natural gas for generating electricity. The reactor would use a type of pebble fuel known as solid tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel.
The NRC’s public meeting is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the DoubleTree Hotel in Oak Ridge, 215 South Illinois Avenue. The meeting will include an open house from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by a description of the environmental review for the construction permit, and a public comment session. (See the public meeting announcement here.)
Comments will be accepted through December 6. Learn more about how to submit comments in this Federal Register notice.
Kairos Power submitted an application for its construction permit about a year ago. The NRC had a public meeting in March.
The NRC could issue a final environmental impact statement in September 2023.
See previous Federal Register notices about the Kairos project here and here.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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