X-energy has completed the main structure of a new U.S. facility designed to manufacture advanced nuclear fuel for small modular reactors, moving the project toward equipment installation and commercial production.

The 214,000-square-foot TX-1 facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is being developed by TRISO-X, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-energy. The company said completing vertical construction clears the way for interior work, installation of fuel fabrication equipment and construction of supporting facilities.

Once operational, TX-1 is expected to manufacture about 700,000 TRISO fuel pebbles each year, using roughly 5 metric tons of uranium. That output would be enough to supply as many as 11 of X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced reactors.

The project is expected to become the first new commercial-scale advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility built in the U.S. in more than 50 years. Earlier this year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the plant a 40-year Special Nuclear Material License, which X-energy says is the first NRC Category 2 fuel fabrication license for processing high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU.

“Completing vertical construction is a major milestone for TX-1 and another tangible demonstration of the progress our team is making in Oak Ridge,” said Joel Duling, president of TRISO-X.

“We are moving from constructing the core and shell of the facility to building out the interior utilities, installing manufacturing equipment, and constructing key support capabilities.”

Clark Construction Group is handling construction and will now focus on the process equipment and administration building, fuel manufacturing equipment and an adjacent graphite matrix powder building.

TRISO, or tristructural isotropic fuel, consists of tiny uranium fuel particles surrounded by multiple layers of carbon- and ceramic-based materials.

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