Researchers will test new fuel in the lab’s Advanced Test Reactor
(IDAHO FALLS, Idaho) – The Idaho National Laboratory will lead a team of researchers and industry partners to create a new type of nuclear fuel from recycled nuclear materials. Researchers will then test the novel fuel in INL’s Advanced Test Reactor, the only facility in the country with the capabilities and available expertise to perform this work.
The project — Irradiation of Molten Plutonium Actinide Chloride fuels and Testing, or IMPACT — will bring together national laboratory scientists and private-sector innovators to create and test the first transuranic-based (TRU-based) liquid salt fuel in a reactor. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) selected IMPACT as part of the High Performance Optimized Recycled Nuclear Isotopes for Gen IV Reactors (HORNIG) program. The award was announced Oct. 29 and advances President Trump’s 2025 Executive Orders by recycling used fuel, turning surplus transuranic elements into reactor fuel and building a domestic fuel supply that doesn’t depend on foreign suppliers.
“Idaho National Laboratory is already playing a leading role in America’s nuclear renaissance, and there’s no better place to advance the next generation of nuclear energy technologies,” said Under Secretary for Nuclear Security Brandon Williams. “This project brings together the expertise of our national laboratories and the innovation of the private sector to develop and test new types of nuclear fuel. It’s exactly the kind of partnership we need to strengthen America’s energy security, accelerate advanced nuclear deployment, and deliver on President Trump’s vision for American energy independence and energy dominance.”
HORNIG supports the design, fabrication, testing and qualification of TRU-based fuels for use in advanced reactors, leveraging materials recovered from the nation’s reserves of used nuclear fuel and other strategic materials. The program challenges project teams to design and test TRU-based fuel systems for the next generation of nuclear reactors.
INL will lead IMPACT, perform all nuclear material handling and conduct the hands-on efforts: fabricating the fuel from transuranic materials already located at the lab, testing the fuel properties and irradiating the fuel in the Advanced Test Reactor. Argonne National Laboratory, Moltex Energy USA LLC and Southern Company will provide modeling support, reactor design input and a utility perspective, with Moltex and Southern providing cost share support.
“Very few places on Earth can handle plutonium, make it into fuel, and test it in a reactor — all in one place,” said INL Director John Wagner. “IMPACT puts that capability to work on a fuel that’s never been irradiated in this form: a chloride salt carrying recycled plutonium and other transuranics for molten salt reactors. The data this team generates is what will help move a fuel from a promising idea to one a developer can actually license and deploy.”
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