An unconventional approach to nuclear energy production just got one step closer to reality. A prototype reactor canister just arrived at its installation site in Kansas, where it will soon be part of a proof of concept for a first-of-its-kind underground small modular reactor system. California-based startup Deep Fission believes that by burying a small nuclear reactor deep under the ground, they can make nuclear energy cheaper and safer at a time when round-the-clock carbon-free energy is needed more than ever before.

“The prototype has completed fabrication, hydrostatic testing, and delivery, allowing the company to move into the next phase of non-nuclear testing as it prepares for large-diameter drilling at the Kansas site,” Interesting Engineering reports.

The proof-of-concept site is testing out a next-gen approach to nuclear energy that would place a modular reactor a mile underground, covered by pressurized water, which would help cool the system and maintain operating pressure. This “gravity reactor” design eliminates the need for an external cooling system and the huge and expensive surface pressure vessels found in standard nuclear power plants. Plus, the surrounding bedrock could offer a greater degree of safety for the system.

“The arrival of our prototype reactor canister at the Kansas site is a clear step forward in moving from design to deployed infrastructure,” Mark Pérès, Chief Nuclear Officer of Deep Fission, recently told Interesting Engineering. “Successfully manufacturing, testing, and delivering this hardware demonstrates performance of our design and supply chain capabilities.”

Deep Fission claims that this design could slash operational costs by as much as 80 percent when compared to conventional nuclear fission reactors. “By utilizing Earth’s natural geology, the design achieves several breakthroughs,” Interesting Engineering wrote in a February report. “At a depth of one mile, a column of water naturally provides the 160 atmospheres of pressure required for the reactor to function, which eliminates the need for massive and expensive surface pressure vessels.”

Deep Fission’s innovative design is part of a broader effort to reinvent nuclear energy in the United States and around the world. As the artificial intelligence boom pushes energy demand projections far past expected power capacity additions, nuclear energy has gained increasing attention for its potentially essential contribution to much-needed clean energy growth. As a result, we are seeing the beginnings of a global nuclear power renaissance, but traditional reactors are costly and time-consuming to develop.

This is where next-gen nuclear technologies come in. Scientists are hard at work trying to advance alternative designs like small modular reactors, underground reactors, and thorium reactors, which may make nuclear power expansion quicker and more cost-effective going forward. The Trump administration has been bullish about developing such technologies on U.S. soil in a bid to keep up with China, and to  “produce lasting American dominance in the global nuclear energy market.”

The Deep Fission project is a beneficiary of Trump’s Executive Order 14301, which mobilizes resources from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program to accelerate the testing and commercialization of advanced nuclear technologies in order to bring them to scale.

However, critics point out that a focus on next-gen technologies could be undermining the Trump administration’s broader goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear energy capacity by 2050. A recent op-ed for the Wall Street Journal argued that “The administration is chasing unproven technology when it could encourage Wall Street investment in large-scale reactors,” and, as a result, Trump’s nuclear renaissance is stalling.

Indeed, more than a year after Trump signed a sheaf of executive orders aimed at “usher[ing] in a nuclear energy renaissance,” the United States has made little demonstrable progress toward adding nuclear energy production capacity. And while the administration has continued to create supportive policies, critics are equally doubtful about Trump’s most recent loan program aimed at kickstarting the sector.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

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