Beyond the Buzzwords: NANO Nuclear on What Real Nuclear Innovation Looks Like
Written by Will Jones
You may have seen references to the current “nuclear renaissance” or “nuclear revolution.” You may have also noticed that while many people talk about the nuclear renaissance, very few seem to actually be involved in it. If you want to see a company that’s taking nuclear innovation seriously, NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. is worth a look.
NANO Nuclear focuses on microreactors, which are small, portable nuclear reactors. Their portability gives them an edge, but as the company’s founder, Jay Yu, points out, their compact size makes it easy to implement game-changing safety features.
“With advancing technology in small nuclear, we're able to design reactors that avoid all the worst accident scenarios which are possible with conventional large reactors,” says Yu. “So that means there's no meltdowns, right? There's no radiation meltdowns, there's no leaks. The fuel has inbuilt containment, and the reactors can be remotely operated with very few personnel, and importantly they can be put almost anywhere. We can finally have baseload, off-grid, high capacity, carbon free power almost anywhere we want.”
Nuclear energy is tightly regulated. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is responsible for reviewing new technology in the United States, but the lengthy review process has historically caused problems.
“Companies can spend years and billions waiting for approvals, often losing momentum or falling behind the pace of technological change,” says James Walker, NANO Nuclear’s CEO.
In an effort to support nuclear innovation while still verifying its safety, the NRC has moved toward streamlining the review process. From the outside, that might sound a lot like lowering safety standards. However, Walker explains that that’s not the case.
“Streamlining NRC reviews doesn’t mean lowering the bar for safety because that standard is immovable,” he says. “But it does mean eliminating redundancies, shortening review times, and providing a more predictable process.”
Even with a streamlined NRC review, NANO Nuclear will still need to undergo a rigorous, multi-year vetting process before any of its reactors are made commercially available.
“So the first year for us is getting all of our design, computer modeling, and virtual testbeds — basically, the blueprint, the actual blueprint with the calculations,” says Jay Yu, the company’s founder. “And then in the second year, we're going to do a physical demonstration. We'll be testing the theories and everything we're doing. And keep in mind, world-class scientists are creating all of this.”
“And then in the third year, we expect to have a first prototype,” he continues. “That's when it's like Frankenstein. It's there now. After that, we have to get NRC approval. And once you get that approval, you can commercialize and deploy it around the world.”
Unless you’re someone who follows the world of nuclear power closely, it can be hard to conceptualize what a microreactor might accomplish. Yu offers an example.
“A lot of mining operations around the world aren't economical because of the costs of generators there and the fossil fuels needed to run them,” he explains. “Now, if we bring our reactor out there, now that's a game-changer.”
“Now these mining sites can be economical,” he continues. “Now there's an energy source that could be powered for many years to come, and they don't have to worry about trucking all this diesel to constantly run generators.”
As the U.S. is increasingly focused on building a domestic nuclear supply chain, NANO Nuclear has been recognized as one of the drivers of domestic nuclear innovation. It might still be several years before NANO’s portable microreactors become widely available. But with NANO as a primary driver of the country’s nuclear resurgence, the clean energy revolution is well on its way to fulfilling its promise.
