Amazon-backed nuclear company gets US approval for reactor fuel

X-Energy Reactor Co., an advanced nuclear company backed by Amazon.com Inc., received federal approval to make uranium fuel for advanced reactors, the first such new license in more than 50 years.

The company’s Triso-X unit is already building its first plant and expects to begin fabricating fuel in 2028. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission license issued Friday authorizes the company to build two production facilities at the site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

X-Energy is part of a wave of companies developing the next-generation of reactor technology, including new types of fuel. The Tennessee site will supply so-called Triso pellets, or tristructural isotropic, poppyseed-sized uranium beads that burn hotter and longer than conventional fuel.

Triso pellets are fabricated into larger capsules or spheres that are expected to power many of the new reactor designs, using a more potent form of uranium called HALEU.

(By Will Wade)