Energy security

Oak Ridge developing 3D-printed nuclear reactor core

The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed a 3D-printed nuclear reactor core prototype, with the ultimate goal of the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR) Demonstration Program being to create an advanced, full-sized, 3D-printed reactor with integrated sensors and controls from fewer components by 2023.

According to the World Nuclear Energy Association, the United States has 98 nuclear reactors operating in 30 states providing 20 percent of the nation's energy supply without generating carbon emissions. Unfortunately, most of the reactors are based on half-century-old technology with only one new reactor being built in the last 20 years and many facing retirement in the next two decades as their licenses expire.

Replacing these reactors will be extremely difficult and expensive for a number of reasons, but the biggest is that American commercial reactors have traditionally been large civil engineering projects that use one-off designs that take decades to design, develop, build, demonstrate, test, gain official approval, and bring online.