X-energy’s Xe-100 Gen IV reactor uses TRISO fuel and helium cooling to deliver meltdown-resistant, modular nuclear power.
Nations are racing to deploy advanced reactors for cleaner, more secure nuclear energy, which provides about nine percent of the world’s commercial electricity. There are currently 440 operating nuclear reactor s run by over 30 countries, and at least 70 more under construction.
Meanwhile, over 20 countries across four continents signed a declaration to triple nuclear energy at the World Climate Action Summit during COP28 in 2023, where they recognized the importance of reaching net-zero by 2050. Still, expanding nuclear power on that scale depends heavily on reaching reactor safety. This means that tripling nuclear capacity would only succeed if reactors are built to prevent meltdowns – severe nuclear accidents in which the core overheats and fuel rods melt. To meet that safety bar, one Maryland-based company named X-energy has been developing a Generation IV nuclear reactor, the Xe-100. This pebble-bed, high-temperature gas-cooled reactor , reportedly cannot melt down. A meltdown-proof reactorThe 80-megawatt electrical reactor is fully modular. It can also be scaled into a ‘four-pack’ 320 MWe power plant. Instead of long fuel rods submerged in water, the reactor core is filled with thousands of graphite spheres roughly the size of billiard balls. According to X-energy, each pebble is filled with thousands of tiny uranium fuel particles known as TRISO . Each TRISO consists of a uranium kernel wrapped in multiple ceramic and carbon-based coating layers. WATCH: @xenergynuclear is developing this high-temperature gas reactor that they say can’t melt down. pic.twitter.com/w5IKZXdWUB— Office of Nuclear Energy | US Department of Energy February 16, 2026Those coatings form a microscopic containment system around every individual fuel grain, trapping fission products even at extreme temperatures. This allows the reactor to retain radioactive gasses and be built within 1,640 feet of factories or urban areas. “The reactor continuously refuels by adding fresh pebbles daily in at the top, as older ones are discharged from the bottom of the core,” the US Department of Energy said. “Each pebble remains in the core for a little more than three years and are circulated through the core up to six times to achieve full burnup.”The spent fuel is then placed directly into dry casks and stored on-site, without the need for interim or active cooling.Inside the Xe-100In contrast to conventional light-water reactors, the Xe-100 uses helium gas as a coolant. Helium is chemically inert. This means that it doesn’t react with fuel or structural materials. It also doesn’t become radioactive under normal operating conditions.Helium is pumped through the pebble bed. It absorbs heat and transfers it to a steam generator to produce electricity. Because helium does not boil or change phase like water, the system avoids pressure-driven instability risks associated with steam-based cooling. A tristructural isotropic uranium fuel particle. Credit: US Department of Energy The reactor doesn’t depend on powered pumps or emergency water systems to prevent meltdowns. Even in the event of a helium coolant loss, it dissipates heat passively through conduction, convection and thermal power. The fuel remains intact. X-energy noted each Xe-100 module produces about 80 MW of electricity. At the same time, the nuclear reactor’s high operating temperatures make it compatible with industrial processes that rely on fossil fuels, including hydrogen production, refining and chemical manufacturing.
Environment Gen IV Reactor Inventions And Machines Nuclear Reactor Particles Physics Sustainability TRISO Fuel USA X-Energy
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