The agreement entered into by the Company expands upon a strategic collaboration that has played a central role in advancing commercial-scale TRISO fuel development and manufacturing since 2016. The 30-month agreement builds on nearly a decade of joint research, technology transfer, and process development that has enabled TRISO-X to transition to advance fuel manufacturing at commercial scale.

The agreement allows the Company to continue operating its existing pilot facility onsite at the Lab where it focuses on driving the transition of TRISO fuel from laboratory success to global commercial reality. Combining ORNL’s decades of foundational nuclear science with TRISO-X’s advanced process and chemical engineering, the partnership is actively optimizing fuel fabrication to work to optimize fuel quality and yield, as well as improve characterization methods and processing streams. In addition, TRISO-X is exploring alternate fuel forms and innovative TRISO-based solutions for the broader small modular reactor, microreactor, and particle fuel markets in direct support of U.S. national security priorities on domestic fuel capabilities for U.S. and allied advanced reactors

Since establishing its pilot fuel fabrication facility at ORNL in 2016, TRISO-X has achieved a series of significant milestones, including receiving the first U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Part 70 license issued for a high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel fabrication facility, beginning vertical construction of TX-1, the nation's first purpose-built commercial TRISO fuel fabrication facility, and producing the first commercially fabricated advanced nuclear fuel to undergo irradiation testing at Idaho National Laboratory's Advanced Test Reactor. Together, these milestones have helped establish the foundation for a resilient domestic supply chain for advanced nuclear fuel.

The partnership complements TRISO-X's growing commercial fuel campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where it is also advancing plans to construct a dedicated research and development center, which recently received support from the State of Tennessee’s Nuclear Energy Supply Chain Investment Fund established by Governor Bill Lee. When completed, the campus is expected to establish one of the world’s largest commercial-scale nuclear fuel fabrication campuses.