ORNL and Elementl Power collaborate on a data-driven approach for new nuclear
Funding through a Department of Energy grant contributed to Elementl’s recent agreement with Google to prepare three U.S. sites for advanced nuclear deployment.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Elementl Power have teamed up to advance a data-driven siting approach for advanced nuclear projects.
The work started through a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) GAIN (Gateway for Accelerated in Nuclear) voucher and contributed to Elementl’s recent agreement with Google to prepare three U.S. sites for advanced nuclear deployment. Each site would have at least 600 megawatts of capacity and would likely be used to power large-scale data centers.
As part of its recently announced agreement with Elementl, Google will provide early stage capital to develop the three sites for advanced reactor projects, with final technology selection and site confirmation pending further development milestones.
Elementl uses a proprietary, multi-criteria siting framework to assess dozens of candidate locations for advanced reactor deployment across the United States — enabling faster, lower-risk project development. The company leveraged ORNL’s OR-SAGE siting tool to further enhance its in-house methodology, adding rigor and geospatial precision to its early-stage development process.
Elementl and ORNL’s collaboration was catalyzed by a 2022 GAIN voucher award, which provided access to the nation’s national laboratory complex and expertise to help overcome technological and commercialization challenges.
“This voucher allowed us to accelerate critical pre-development work that would otherwise take years to replicate on our own,” said David Faherty, Elementl Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer. “ORNL’s OR-SAGE platform gives us a data-driven foundation to screen regional siting options efficiently and allows our team to layer in our own project-specific criteria with greater speed and confidence.”
Separate from the Elementl announcement, Google already has an agreement in place with Kairos Power to deploy 500 MW of nuclear capacity by 2035. Kairos Power recently began nuclear construction on its Hermes reactor in Oak Ridge, which is one of several advanced reactor projects being supported by DOE.
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