Municipal energy utility Idaho Falls Energy (IFP) has introduced it’s negotiating an influence buy settlement (PPA) with Aalo Atomics, a 2022-founded nuclear engineering agency impressed by Idaho Nationwide Laboratory (INL’s) MARVEL microreactor.
Aalo on Sept. 16 confirmed it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the utility to discover the deployment of a fleet comprising seven Aalo-1 reactors—a mixed 75 MW. Based on IFP, the PPA would give the utility the “proper to finally buy vitality” from the 75-MW challenge, which may very well be sited at IFP’s new Vitality Analysis Park close to the intersection of East Iona Street and North Yellowstone Freeway in Idaho.
Underneath the PPA, Aalo “would lease land for the lifetime of the challenge, as much as 80 years,” on the web site, the place the general public energy firm additionally plans to finish development of a 17.5-MW pure gasoline–fired peaking plant by the tip of 2025. “With design, approval, and development, Aalo’s Idaho Falls Mission shouldn’t be anticipated to come back on-line earlier than 2030,” IFP stated.
Aalo-1: MARVEL-Impressed, Commercially Designed
Aalo’s flagship product, the Aalo-1, is a factory-fabricated 10-MWe thermal neutron spectrum, sodium-cooled microreactor fueled by uranium zirconium hydride (UZr-H) and designed for enhanced security and effectivity. Whereas it leverages sodium’s thermal properties (as each major and secondary coolant) for efficient warmth switch and reactor stability, the U-Zr-H gas gives robust damaging reactivity suggestions for inherent security.
Aalo says key options additionally embrace a redundant reactivity management system for secure operation and passive shutdown, passive decay warmth removing through ambient air convection, and a number of obstacles to stop radioactive launch. As well as, its compact, non-pressurized design, mixed with excessive gas burnup is designed each for security and gas effectivity.
The enterprise capital–backed firm is led by CEO Matt Loszak and Chief Expertise Officer Yasir Arafat, a group of nuclear specialists who spearheaded the growth of INL’s Microreactor Functions Analysis Validation and EvaLuation (MARVEL) program. INL’s MARVEL, an 85-kWth/20-kWe microreactor, is now anticipated to start operation in 2027 at INL’s Transient Reactor Check facility (TREAT). MARVEL is slated to serve as a check mattress to advance reactor design, offering important insights on development, operation, and decommissioning., in addition to generate worthwhile information for personal corporations.
MARVEL’s reactor design was envisioned by Arafat because the Division of Vitality (DOE) started to ascertain a microreactor program in 2019. (Arafat, who joined Aalo in October 2023, was notably additionally pivotal within the conception of Westinghouse’s flagship eVinci microreactor program within the 2014 timeframe.) Nonetheless, Aalo’s design additionally leverages know-how and expertise stemming from the System for Nuclear Auxiliary Energy (SNAP) program, a Sixties-era federal initiative to provide atomic electrical gadgets for area, sea, and land use.
Whereas Aalo, which was formally unveiled in 2023, is basically a scaled-up model of the SNAP10A and MARVEL nuclear know-how, the corporate says it’s centered on “delivering probably the most economical superior nuclear microreactor answer whereas adhering to the excessive security and regulatory requirements anticipated by [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] for public and environmental safety.”
Aalo has since underscored a key goal: to develop small-scale, factory-built nuclear reactors that ship aggressive energy. “Aalo’s first reactor could have an influence output of 30 MWth (10 MWe), and we’ll goal an nth-of-a-kind [levelized cost of electricity (LCOE)] of seven¢/kWh,” Loszak has stated. “Our second product line will likely be a lot bigger (300 MWth), which we consider will obtain the necessary 3–5 ¢/kWh threshold (cheaper than coal). Each reactors will likely be sodium-cooled, LEU+ UZrH-fueled, and factory-fabricated.”
A Danger-Diminished Microreactor Method Focusing on a Six-12 months Timeframe
For now, Aalo’s first challenge envisioned in Idaho consists of one energy-generating unit comprising seven unbiased 10-MWe Aalo-1 microreactors operated by means of shared constructions just like the management room and secondary facet electrical energy producing techniques (for instance, the turbine generator). “Initially, this plant will function seven unbiased Aalo-1 reactors, doubtlessly increasing to a further seven reactor items” through a second vitality producing unit, the corporate famous. “As soon as we get the inexperienced gentle and begin development, this would be the highest variety of nuclear reactors at a single web site within the U.S.—a game-changer for small reactor clusters.” Aalo’s reference plant is a 100-MWe unit comprised of 10 unbiased Aalo-1 reactors.
The corporate’s technique has been to scale its know-how by means of industrial readiness by means of a phased, risk-reduced strategy. It says it’s at the moment engaged on the development of a non-nuclear check reactor (Aalo-0) at its Austin headquarters. That set up will likely be adopted by the Aalo Experimental reactor (Aalo-X) at INL. “These preliminary steps will show the know-how and economics in a low-risk, incremental approach,” the corporate defined on Monday.
As a part of the “growth philosophy,” the corporate’s MOU with IFP unveiled on Monday “stipulates that the challenge will solely proceed to full development as soon as particular value and uncertainty milestones are met, defending each Aalo and Idaho Falls Energy from potential setbacks,” it famous. “Aalo is pursuing different commercialization paths in parallel, and can announce at a future date how the relative timeline of those paths line up.”
“We’ve inbuilt a number of layers of threat discount in order that each companions can transfer ahead with confidence,” stated Loszak on Monday.
By leveraging low-enriched uranium (LEU) at slightly below 10% enrichment and working within the thermal neutron spectrum, “Aalo’s experimental reactor design prioritizes provide chain availability, inherent security, and manufacturability,” Loszak has famous. The reactor’s UZrH gas wants might be met by TRIGA gas, which was developed by Basic Atomics and has been demonstrated because the Nineteen Fifties.
“Along with producing energy for the Idaho Falls neighborhood, we would like this challenge to unlock extra markets for microreactors,” stated Loszak. “This challenge invitations different potential off-takers, together with information middle corporations, who’re desirous to discover the complete potential of fleets of small nuclear reactors to unlock the additional acceleration of AI.”
Potential PPA Follows Large Steps for Siting, Manufacturing
Following the completion of the conceptual design, Aalo in Might 2024 signed a siting memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the DOE at an INL web site in Idaho, the place it plans to deploy Aalo-X, a full-scale non-nuclear prototype of the 30 MWth, sodium-cooled, UZrH-fueled reactor.
In July, it submitted a regulatory engagement plan to the Nuclear Regulatory Fee (NRC) for the primary set of Aalo-1 reactors deliberate for the Idaho Nuclear Mission. Aalo has stated that it’ll work carefully with the NRC and intends to submit a full mixed development and working license software (COLA) in 2026. Final month, the corporate opened a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Austin, the place it would construct the Aalo-0, the non-nuclear prototype, the experimental nuclear microreactor (the Aalo-X), and finally the Aalo-1. In 2025, the corporate anticipates it would full full-scale non-nuclear prototype testing and start procurement for its industrial Aalo-1 reactor supplies. In 2026, it plans to succeed in 90% of the ultimate design (an achievement that will mark solely 30 months) and full manufacturing of its first “revenue-generating” Aalo-1 reactor.
Aalo stated it picked Texas, given its vitality hub standing. “With a tech-friendly regulatory atmosphere and a wealthy historical past of vitality management, from oil and gasoline to renewables and nuclear, Texas is the right spot for ushering within the Second Atomic Age,” it stated. “The ERCOT grid is uniquely effectively positioned to work with nuclear microreactors as novel distributed vitality sources. The Texas Nuclear Working Group and different state-level pro-nuclear initiatives present a supportive framework for our operations.”
The selection of Idaho Falls as Aalo-1’s first challenge’s web site can also be “strategic” and builds on the area’s “wealthy historical past of nuclear innovation,” it stated.
“This area has been on the forefront of nuclear know-how for many years,” Arafat famous in an announcement on Monday. “With a number of new reactor applied sciences below development, Idaho Falls is a perfect place to maneuver from analysis to deployment. Public assist for nuclear is powerful right here, making it an ideal launchpad for our first deployment.”
Idaho Falls Energy’s Crucial to Meet Coming Demand Surge
For IFP, the prospect of a PPA with Aalo is enticing, given a looming surge in energy demand pushed by electrification. The utility, which at the moment serves the Metropolis of Idaho Falls, at the moment owns and operates 5 hydroelectric technology amenities (a mixed capability of about 50 MW) on the Snake River, a portion of the Horse Butte Wind challenge, and a small photo voltaic set up. These initiatives solely produce sufficient energy to serve 22.67% of the Metropolis’s electrical necessities. It meets the remaining by means of long-term contracts with Bonneville Energy Administration (BPA) and short-term market purchases.
Nonetheless, since IFP constructed its final hydropower facility within the late Nineteen Eighties, the town says it has skilled large inhabitants development, together with substantial industrial middle development. “The electrical utility business is dealing with main challenges assembly calls for whereas nonetheless sustaining reasonably priced, dependable service,” stated Bear Prairie, IFP basic supervisor, on Monday.“Aalo’s progressive strategy to superior nuclear with no emissions seems to have the appropriate threat and economics for our utility to take this subsequent step,” he famous.
Based on Aalo’s regulatory engagement plan filed on the NRC on July 1, IFP is contemplating deploying Aalo-1 reactors given their passive security options, decrease prices, reliance on a longtime home provide chain, and suitability for mass manufacturing. As well as, the reactors keep away from reliance on high-assay, low-enriched Uranium (HALEU), which can guarantee “immediate gas supply” to satisfy the challenge’s tight six-year challenge timeline.
The general public energy utility was notably a distinguished potential off-taker of the now-defunct Carbon Free Energy Mission (CFPP), a 462-MWe NuScale challenge deliberate for development at an INL web site in Idaho Falls. The Utah Related Municipal Energy Techniques (UAMPS), a key CFPP challenge developer, terminated the challenge, which was anticipated to come back on-line by 2030, in November 2023 after it didn’t safe sufficient subscriptions to proceed towards deployment.
Aalo on Monday advised that IFP will use solely a part of the 75-MW challenge’s generated energy. The remaining energy will likely be made to “to surrounding municipalities and different industrial functions,” it stated.
The Metropolis of Idaho Falls seems firmly supportive of the Aalo challenge regardless of its novel attributes. “Idaho Falls Energy isn’t any stranger to innovation and this utility has at all times been considering creating the neatest attainable vitality sources for the general public. A partnership with Aalo whereby we offer area for modeling and growth at our Vitality Analysis Park whereas it develops and proves its know-how at INL simply is smart,” stated Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper.
“The potential advantages are extremely vital. There may be merely no draw back to supporting vitality growth right here in jap Idaho. That’s simply in our neighborhood’s DNA,” she stated.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
