OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, February 21, 2023 – TRISO-X LLC (“TRISO-X” or the “Company”), a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC (“X-energy”), today announced the relocation and opening of its new offices in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Company has consolidated several existing Oak Ridge offices into the Oak Ridge Corporate Center located at 151 Lafayette Drive. The move brings together all of the company’s current full-time employees in east Tennessee, with space for continued growth and expansion during the construction of its new headquarters in the TRISO-X Fuel Fabrication Facility (TF3).
“It’s great to have the entire TRISO-X team under one roof while we move forward with TF3 construction,” said Dr. Pete Pappano, president of TRISO-X. “While only temporary, this new home will allow all of our team members to collaborate and work together as we advance the development of our innovative, next-generation nuclear fuel. In addition, we will also have the space we need to onboard and train our future employees as we continue to grow.”
The company will occupy the entire third floor, or approximately 36,000 square feet, of the Oak Ridge Corporate Center’s Building I. Nearly 80 full-time employees have taken part in the move, and the office is designed to accommodate up to 200 total full-time staff. TRISO-X will maintain these offices, along with its existing pilot fuel fabrication facility located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, until it permanently relocates to its new home and headquarters at the TF3.
Earlier this year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) hosted its first public meeting for the proposed TF3 facility. The NRC has outlined a 30-month review timeline to license this first-of-a-kind facility, which is expected to be a significant participant in future advanced reactor deployment. TRISO-X anticipates to ultimately create more than 400 jobs in eastern Tennessee.
Tri-structural isotropic (“TRISO”) particle fuel is “the most robust nuclear fuel on the planet,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) because it can withstand very high temperatures without melting, which is key to its safety. TRISO-X manufactures its own proprietary version of TRISO—called TRISO-X—to ensure supply, to control quality, and to reduce costs. TRISO-X has operated a pilot nuclear fuel fabrication facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2016, serving as a demonstration facility of the Company’s patented TRISO fabrication processes.
In 2020, the DOE selected X-energy for their Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (“ARDP”) to receive up to $1.2 billion of federal cost-shared funding to develop, license, build, and demonstrate operational advanced reactors by the end of the decade. The TRISO-X nuclear fuel produced in the Oak Ridge TF3 will be used in X-energy’s Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, the first of which are expected to be operational by 2029.