ML24214A240
| ML24214A240 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Hermes File:Kairos Power icon.png |
| Issue date: | 07/22/2024 |
| From: | Office of Public Affairs |
| To: | |
| References | |
| News Release-24-060 | |
| Download: ML24214A240 (1) | |
Text
No: 24-060 July 22, 2024 CONTACT: Scott Burnell, 301-415-8200
NRC Completes Safety Review of Construction Permit Application For Hermes 2 Test Reactor Facility in Tennessee
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has completed its final safety evaluationfor Kairos Powers application to build the Hermes 2 advanced test facility at a site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The evaluation concludes there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing the construction permit for the facility.
We finished our review of Hermes 2 design nearly four months ahead of schedule, and using about 60 percent fewer resources than expected, using insights from our previous Kairos review, said Andrea Veil, director of the NRCs Office of Nuclear Reactor Re gulation. We remain committed to applying these sorts of lessons learned to maintain safety while promptly and efficiently processing applications.
The staff will provide the safety evaluation and the final environmental assessment, which is on track to be completed later this summer, to the Commission for the final phase of the licensing process later this year. The Commission will determine whether the staffs review supports the findings necessary to issue the permit. Following its deliberations, the Commission will vote on whether to authorize the staff to issue the permit.
The NRCs Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards independently reviewed safety-related aspects of the Kairos application. The committee provided the results of its review to the Commission on July 17.
The Kairos application requests permission to build the facility with two 35 -megawatt thermal test reactors, similar in design to the test reactor the NRC issued a construction permit for in 2023. The fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactors would share a power generation system. The company will have to submit a separate application for operating licenses in the future.