The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it selected a sodium-cooled fast reactor design for its versatile test reactor that would be built at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
If funding is appropriated by Congress, the project would be the first fast nuclear test reactor to operate in the United States in nearly three decades.
Congress did not provide funding in Fiscal Year 2022 funding for the versatile test reactor, or VTR. DOE has requested FY 2023 funding to help move the project forward.
Department officials have said a fast-neutron reactor capable of performing faster irradiation testing is necessary to modernize its nuclear research and accelerate advanced nuclear fuels, materials, instrumentation, and sensors.
