In Abilene, about 200 miles west of Dallas, Natura Resources is building the nation’s first advanced liquid-fuel research reactor in nearly 40 years. The project is housed at Abilene Christian University, where a $25 million research facility was completed in September 2023.

Natura has raised $120 million in private funding and received another $120 million from the Legislature.

Natura’s technology uses molten salt as both fuel and coolant — a design last tested at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s. The company is first building a 1-megawatt research reactor in Abilene, intended to demonstrate to regulators and investors that the technology works and is safe.

Aalo Atomics is taking a different approach. The startup, founded by Canadian-born engineer Matt Loszak and based in Austin, is designing a sodium-cooled fast reactor, a technology that uses solid fuel, like conventional nuclear plants, built specifically for factory mass production.

Each unit would produce 10 megawatts, enough to power roughly 6,000 to 7,000 homes in Texas, and the reactors will be sized to fit on a standard truck. Aalo’s commercial model would consist of five of these units, totaling 50 megawatts.

Loszak said the company plans to activate its first 10 megawatt test reactor within about five months, after completing prototype testing at the end of December, as part of its effort to move toward commercial deployment.

  • Formfiller@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    I’m sure Texas will do it in the dumbest most unregulated way possible. It will be a good example of what not to do.

    • hector@lemmy.today
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      6 hours ago

      Not winterize them, because the feds can’t tell us what to do, and then have it melt down in the next polar inversion, of which they got one this year again. It’s going to be a regular occurrence now with the global weirding.

      • village604@adultswim.fan
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        3 hours ago

        Modern reactors don’t really melt down like the first few generations did. And even so, it would still be less radioactive waste than coal power.

        • hector@lemmy.today
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          3 hours ago

          As if we can trust anything you say after that statistic you just proffered and responded with another outlandish claim when asked what methadology was used for you coal comparison.