Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed an interactive site titled “Nuclear is here . . . and here and here.” With the subtitle “East Tennessee hosts a nuclear resurgence,” it starts with the decision California-based Kairos Power that announced plans in December 2020 to build an advanced nuclear demonstration reactor within the site of the former K-25 uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge.

The interactive site also talks about:

1. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which hosts a prestigious nuclear engineering department dating back to 1957.
2. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to build the first small modular reactor at the former Clinch River Breeder Reactor site.
3. TRISO fuel manufacturer TRISO-X, which announced in April 2022 that it would place a fuel facility in Horizon Center Industrial Park, which is adjacent to Heritage Center.
4. Type One Energy Group, which announced in February 2024 that it would build a prototype fusion device called Infinity One at the site of TVA’s retired Bull Run Fossil Plant just outside the Oak Ridge city limits in Anderson County.
5. Orano USA, which announced this September that Oak Ridge would be the site of a new multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment facility, the single largest investment in Tennessee history.

You can access the interactive site at this link or simply read the narrative at this link.

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