CHICAGO, June 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clean Core Thorium Energy (Clean Core) has announced its new strategic partnership agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy for the testing of Clean Core’s innovative fuel for nuclear power plants. The announced agreement details next steps for irradiation testing and qualification in Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor of Clean Core’s advanced nuclear fuel, marking a major milestone in the commercialization of thorium-based energy.
Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life (ANEEL) is a proprietary fuel technology using a combination of thorium and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to enhance the performance of CANDU reactors and other pressurized heavy-water reactor designs. Proliferation-resistant ANEEL fuel will decrease the operating costs of CANDU and pressurized heavy-water reactors while significantly reducing the volume of high-level waste generated.
INL expects to begin testing of the ANEEL fuel in their Advanced Test Reactor by the end of 2022 or early 2023. Clean Core, in partnership with Texas A&M University and INL, completed the fabrication of the ANEEL fuel pellets under INL’s quality assurance requirements. The pellets are ready to be inserted into a testing assembly.
“This strategic partnership with the Department of Energy for the first-of-its-kind thorium-based nuclear fuel marks a major milestone in the development and commercialization of this new technology,” said Mehul Shah, Founder and CEO of Clean Core. “Our fuel holds tremendous promise for making nuclear power plants more economical while improving accident-tolerance. With this new technology, Clean Core will open up carbon-free base-load electricity to emerging countries around the world.”
Concurrently with fuel testing at INL, Clean Core will complete performance and safety assessments and a demonstration irradiation of full-size fuel assemblies in a CANDU reactor with partners in Canada.
Clean Core expects to have ANEEL fuel assemblies producing carbon-free power in commercial CANDU reactors by the end of 2025.
About Clean Core Thorium Energy
Clean Core Thorium Energy is a nuclear fuel innovation company exploring thorium-driven power. Clean Core’s patent-pending, advanced nuclear fuel technology, ANEEL, comprised of thorium and high assay low-enriched uranium, is capable of safely and cost-effectively powering existing CANDU and pressurized heavy-water reactors. ANEEL fuel is a novel solution to safety, waste, and proliferation concerns in today’s nuclear plants. Learn more at https://cleancore.energy/.
About Idaho National Laboratory
Battelle Energy Alliance manages INL for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. INL is the nation’s center for nuclear energy research and development, and also performs research in each of DOE’s strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and the environment. For more information, visit www.inl.gov. Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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