National Reactor Innovation Center

04/08/2026

🎉 Big news for the future of American energy — DOME is officially open!

On April 8, NRIC, Idaho National Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy gathered at the Materials and Fuels Complex to celebrate its grand opening. The National Reactor Innovation Center's Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at INL is now welcoming privately developed advanced nuclear reactors for testing and demonstration. It's the first facility of its kind in the world, and it was built right here in Idaho! 🇺🇸

Legacy Built. Future Ready.

What makes DOME so exciting?
⚛️ It can host reactors generating up to 20 megawatts of thermal energy
🏗️ It's built inside the historic Experimental Breeder Reactor-II dome
🚀 Construction was accelerated by nearly a year to meet America's urgent energy needs
✨The nuclear energy resurgence is here, and Idaho is leading the way.

https://brnw.ch/21x1qzv

03/05/2026

Big news for nuclear innovation! The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy and NRIC announced the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.

Why it matters: ✔ Builds on successful DOE pilot programs ✔ Provides expertise for testing and operation ✔ Offers pathways at Idaho National Laboratory and across the United States.

Stay tuned for application details and Industry Day announcements. Learn more at https://brnw.ch/21x0uLv

02/27/2026

NRIC played a pivotal role in the nation achieving some big wins in 2025 to advance nuclear energy. And NRIC is set to deliver even 🄱🄸🄶🄶🄴🅁 wins in 2026.

NRIC continues to work with multiple nuclear energy developers - many that are participating in DOE's Nuclear Reactor and Fuel Line pilot programs - as we assist with navigating regulatory framework and facilitate access to experts and infrastructure at the national laboratories. Together, we're bridging the gap between concept, demonstration and commercialization. And this year we'll start to see the fruits of our labor.

We're building and upgrading critical infrastructure to give industry the capabilities to test their innovations. Last week, NRIC unveiled the Molten Salt Thermophysical Examination Capability or MSTEC, which will be open to industry this year. Construction the NRIC-DOME is nearly complete and will be ready for his first experiment this spring.

There's more to come in 2026!

President Trump’s game-changing executive orders breathed new life into the American nuclear sector in 2025, putting the nation on the path to a nuclear energy renaissance.

02/19/2026

A big day and another big win for NRIC!

Today, NRIC officially unveiled the Molten Salt Thermophysical Examination Capability (MSTEC) at Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials & Fuels Complex.

MSTEC is a state‑of‑the‑art, shielded argon glovebox designed to characterize molten salts and actinide materials—providing the validated data industry needs to advance next‑generation reactors and modernize fuel‑cycle R&D.

MSTEC will bridges key knowledge gaps in molten salt behavior under nuclear reactor conditions as it provides essential data for design, licensing, and commercialization of molten salt reactors.

📎 Learn more → https://brnw.ch/21x06o4

02/03/2026

Be sure to check out the latest on NRIC, its capabilities and industry news on our website, https://brnw.ch/21wZD6t.

01/29/2026

NRIC’s Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop (METL) facility – located at Argonne National Laboratory – is the largest liquid metal test facility for sodium-cooled fast reactors in the U.S. Established in 2018, METL advances research on liquid metal technologies and is currently being used by industry partners to test different components for potential use in their designs.

Learn more --> https://brnw.ch/21wZv2y

://brnw.ch/21wZv2z

The Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop facility at Argonne National Laboratory is the largest liquid metal test facility in the U.S. METL tests small- and medi...

01/28/2026

🌟 Spotlight on NRIC Team Member: Tom Gualtieri 🌟

Tom is fairly new to the NRIC team. He’s a technical program manager supporting developers Aalo Atomics and Deployable Energy. Tom spent eight years at General Dynamics, where he gained experience in development and testing within the defense industry. At General Dynamics, Tom worked on projects including rocket motors, artillery projectiles, and guidance kits. He brings expertise in project engineering, product development, and cross-functional team leadership to NRIC’s missions.

NRIC plays a crucial role in advancing and deploying advanced reactor technologies, and our success relies on the collaboration within our team. Tom’s expertise and leadership drive innovation in nuclear energy, and we are proud to have him contribute to the nation’s energy future.

Learn more about the team  https://brnw.ch/21wZtgj

01/23/2026

Reps from Idaho National Laboratory (NRIC and MFC) participated in a productive, face-to-face meeting with Aalo Atomics at their Texas facility last week to discuss the upcoming Aalo-X experiment. The group engaged in technical discussions on how Aalo and INL can work together to accelerate progress toward criticality.

This is a strong example of how partnerships between national laboratories and industry play a critical role in advancing nuclear technology and strengthening the nation’s nuclear innovation ecosystem.

01/22/2026

Exciting news! Deployable Energy has chosen Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for their upcoming microreactor demo, marking a key step towards their commercial deployment. 🎉

NRIC is thrilled to connect innovators like Deployable Energy with the national laboratories to fast-track nuclear tech advancements. 🚀🌍

Last week, INL (NRIC and MFC) representatives met with Deployable Energy’s team at their Texas facility to collaborate with them on advancing the company’s demonstration and aligning on next steps toward initial criticality. These in-person leadership engagements are critical to accelerating test planning, reducing risk, and ensuring demonstrations progress efficiently from concept to ex*****on.

Following an in-depth effort of scoping discussions to identify the right location and test configuration to meet Deployable Energy’s goals, we are excited to see this project move into ex*****on.

https://brnw.ch/21wZj7X

01/13/2026

🌟 Spotlight on NRIC Team Member: Thomas Folk 🌟

Thomas is a technical program manager at NRIC, where he leads the Oklo program, aiming to deploy Oklo’s first Aurora Powerhouse at INL. Additionally, he serves as the project manager for the Virtual Test Bed (VTB) and Digital Engineering projects, which are dedicated to accelerating the deployment of novel reactor concepts through the use of advanced modeling and simulation (M&S) tools and data-centric engineering methodologies.

NRIC plays a crucial role in advancing and deploying advanced reactor technologies, and our success relies on the collaboration within our team. Thomas’ expertise and leadership drive innovation in nuclear energy, and we are proud to have her contribute to the nation’s energy future.

Learn more about the team --> https://brnw.ch/21wZ3gx

01/07/2026

Construction at the DOME is progressing, making it hard to keep up with all the changes happening! That's a good problem to have considering we're anxious to open it for operation.

Over the last few weeks, we've uploaded a number of new construction photos on our website, https://brnw.ch/21wYU3m. Be sure to check them out!

09/30/2025

Interested in learning about NRIC? Head over to our website and find out how we're bridging the gap between nuclear technology concept and commercial deployment!

The website highlights our mission, the team, capabilities, initiatives and much, much more.

Check it out --> https://brnw.ch/21wWej4