ARC Clean Technology signs multi-year INL framework support for ARC-100 deployment

Framework agreement covers full lifecycle support

ARC Clean Technology has partnered with Idaho National Laboratory for the design, demonstration, and deployment of the ARC-100, a 100 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor.

Under the multi-year framework agreement, INL support is described as covering “engineering and design, advanced materials and manufacturing, high-performance computing and modelling, irradiation testing, reactor commissioning and operation, and site development; covering the full lifecycle from detailed design through first-of-a-kind deployment.”

The ARC-100 design is stated to use a metallic uranium alloy core and is intended for on-grid electricity production and industrial heat applications.

The technology basis is linked to the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II integral sodium-cooled fast reactor prototype, which operated at Argonne National Laboratory from 1961 until shutting down in 1994.

Supply-chain planning implications: materials, testing, commissioning and regulatory work

The scope laid out in the framework agreement points to multiple supply-chain touchpoints beyond early design, including advanced materials and manufacturing activities, irradiation testing, and commissioning and operation support.

The SOURCE also notes that INL has been involved in ARC’s participation in US Department of Energy programmes, including work that covered fuel design and analysis, Probabilistic Risk Assessment, and regulatory engagement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ARC previously described a licensing pathway support effort that included a Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission pre-licensing vendor design review, which began in 2017 and concluded there were no fundamental barriers to licensing the SMR.

Project timeline and site-development activities

ARC and New Brunswick Power (NB Power) have been working together on the development of the ARC-100 since 2018.

In July 2023, NB Power, in partnership with ARC, submitted an environmental impact assessment registration document and an application for a site preparation licence for an SMR at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant site in New Brunswick.

The demonstration unit was targeted for commissioning by 2029, subject to approvals and licensing.