Micro-nuclear reactors are being built that can supply 5 MW of energy for up to 100 months and produce a staggering amount of energy of 1.2 petawatt hours.
Nuclear energy is increasingly recognized for its potential to revolutionize energy supply in data centers, a necessity as artificial intelligence continues to drive demand.
Companies like Oracle and Microsoft have both begun exploring nuclear power (as has former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates), with Microsoft signing a deal to buy power from the infamous Three Mile Island reactor.
Micro nuclear reactors will also provide clean, safe and reliable energy to meet the increasing demands of data centers and other industries. We previously wrote that Nano Nuclear Energy is on track to have the first commercial microreactors ready by the early 2030s, while prototypes are expected as early as 2027.
To the moon!
Now details have emerged about Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor, after the company revealed it had submitted its Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) to the Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC), becoming the first reactor developer to reached this milestone. .
“The completion of the PSDR for the eVinci test reactor is an important step toward enabling a microreactor developer to conduct a test at our DOME facility,” said Brad Tomer, acting director of NRIC.
“As a national DOE program and part of INL, the National Nuclear Energy Research Laboratory, NRIC is committed to working with private companies like Westinghouse to test and accelerate the development of advanced nuclear technologies that will deliver clean energy solutions for the U.S. will offer. ”
NRIC, a major initiative under the DOE, is aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of advanced nuclear technologies such as the eVinci microreactor. The mission includes establishing four new experimental facilities and two large-scale reactor test beds by 2028, with plans to complete two advanced technology experiments by 2030.
The eVinci microreactor, which Westinghouse says has “very few moving parts and essentially works like a battery,” could be used to provide reliable electricity and heating to remote communities, universities, mining operations, industrial centers, data centers and defense facilities – and , the company says, even on the lunar surface and beyond.