TRISO Is the Safest, Hottest, Most Efficient and Easiest to Use Uranium Fuel Source Yet. Of Course We’re Using It in Our Reactor.
TRISO fuel can resolve so many of the challenges and concerns facing the nuclear energy industry. From easy refueling to enhanced structural safety, the possibilities for TRISO fuel are truly stratospheric, and The Earthineering Company is so excited to deploy it at the cutting edge of nuclear technology.
Tri-structural isotropic particle fuel all starts with a fuel kernel. No larger than a poppy seed, it consists of uranium, oxygen, silicon, and carbon contained in three layers of protective shells. These kernels are then packaged into larger spheres called pebbles, or cylinder shaped pellets. The particles completely encase the enriched uranium; the incredibly powerful pebble is completely safe to hold in your hand.
TRISO fuel is enriched at a higher level than other uranium fuel sources, yet safety is never sacrificed. “Nothing is safer and more powerful than TRISO fueled nuclear power. Just a dozen kernels of TRISO, each smaller than a poppy seed barely visible to the naked eye, contains more energy than a gallon of gasoline,” says Earthineering Company CEO Dr. Kevin Hickerson.
TRISO pebbles are optimal for a reactor producing process heat, a term which refers to a specific quality of heat that enables manufacturers to drive the chemical reactions required for the products we use everyday. Producing this very high temperature process heat is our company’s core objective; nuclear power can achieve so much when it is used to produce heat.
TRISO enables always-on refueling and easy inspection. Conventional reactors go offline for months during a lengthy refueling process, lowering the capacity factor, which lowers productivity and profitability. However, refueling our reactor is simple: TRISO pebbles are loaded from the top while the reactor is still running. For a factory thinking about installing our modular reactor to produce process heat, this always-on refueling and inspection produces serious advantages.
But more important than easy refueling and higher operating temperatures is safety and the entailed public trust. TRISO fuel technology completely reshapes the narrative about nuclear energy. But do not just take our word for it; according to the Department of Energy, “TRISO particles cannot melt in a reactor and can withstand extreme temperatures that are well beyond the threshold of current nuclear fuels.”
TRISO fuel is uniquely safe because it completely redefines how we think about safety in the nuclear industry. Conventional reactors look for safeguards and backup measures in the event of something going wrong. TRISO, however, is a fuel source designed with safety in mind. The silicon carbide shell ensures safe heat distribution within the reactor and acts as a barrier if the particle exits containment. In addition, the risk of fallout is extremely low. It is very unlikely that a particle would crack its silicon carbide shell, but if one were to crack, it would release miniscule amounts of fallout.
TRISO fuel is also resilient to natural and man made disasters. Because the nuclear fuel is encased in a tiny containment vessel, if those particles were to spill out, the risk of fallout or an exclusion zone is greatly reduced, from 10 miles down to just ¼ mile. TRISO particles can resist a high velocity impact too. As a result, TRISO fuel reactors are far less prone to incidents such as earthquakes and projectiles.
““I think all new reactors should use TRISO fuel,” says Hickerson. “To me, it is the coolest, safest and most exciting nuclear fuel source we have so far.””
Using TRISO fuel is one example of how our reactor is leading the future of nuclear energy. With TRISO fuel, The Earthineering Company aspires to address not only nuclear energy’s biggest struggles, but also America’s most key objectives.
The breadth of possibilities for our smaller modular, very high temperature TRISO-fueled reactor all stem from that one critical output: process heat. One industry that requires process heat is Rare Earth Element (REEs) refining. The core components of the device you are using to read this blog post require REEs. What makes them rare though is not their abundance in the earth, but the extent to which they’re refined. Even though America has plenty of REEs deposits, we are completely dependent on foreign adversarial countries for refining. Using TRISO-fueled process heat can onshore REEs processing and can make it cheaper and cleaner at the same time.
Very high temperature process heat can also be used to make a synthetic drop-in replacement for the fuels we use today. The Earth took millions of years to turn sea life into petroleum, but using process heat can make a synthetic fuel in minutes. Sooner than many people realize, we will run out of jet fuel. Even before then, fuel supply chains are at adversarial risk of disruption. Our TRISO-fueled reactor will enable humanity to fly with existing aerospace technology. Our reactor will make synthetic fuels so cheap, it will revive the days of supersonic travel.
Onshoring rare earth element refining to decrease dependency on other nations and manufacturing synthetic aviation fuel to continue flying well after jet fuel reserves are depleted are just some of the ways The Earthineering Company will advance nuclear energy technology to solve today’s most pressing challenges. But no matter what we do, TRISO fuel will ensure we do it with the highest quality process heat and with the safest uranium fuel source to date.
