AECL and CNL explore market interest in commercializing nuclear battery reactor technologies

The Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) issued a request for expression of interest to better understand market interest in commercializing AECL’s SLOWPOKE and nuclear battery reactor technologies. The AECL is a federal Crown corporation with a mandate to drive nuclear opportunities for Canada. AECL enables nuclear science and technology, owns the Chalk River Laboratories and other sites. CNL is a nuclear science and technology laboratory under the direction of the AECL.

The two entities said their request for expression of interest will involve inviting technology developers and other interested stakeholders to submit insights and feedback about the innovative reactor designs and technologies, which collectively have broad applications that include electricity generation, district heating, isotope production and physics research.

AECL’s SLOWPOKE technology is a family of low pressure, pool-type reactors that includes the SLOWPOKE-2, which is a small, simple, cheaper, and inherently safer reactor design. Nuclear power operators have been safely operating this technology for decades.

With initial research suggesting both reactors may have broad appeal within the international technology development community, AECL and CNL are now interested in learning more about market interest in these technologies, including reactor design, engineering, and sales, as well as end-use applications, such as district heating, electrical generation, isotope production and neutron activation analysis.

Lou Riccoboni, an executive with CNL, stated, “We see real opportunity and value in AECL’s SLOWPOKE and Nuclear Battery designs, which have tremendous potential to help combat climate change, and to advance research in physics and health sciences. This request for expression of interest process allows us to engage technologies developers to determine whether there is commercial interest in exploiting these innovative designs, which would help advance these important causes, while making the most of AECL’s intellectual property on behalf of Canadian taxpayers.”

While having never advanced to construction, the nuclear battery technology is a solid-state micro-reactor concept that would be able to produce a combination of electricity (up to 600 kW_e) and heat (up to 2400 kW_th at ~400°C) for up to 15 years without refuelling, and which could also survive all postulated accident scenarios without human intervention. 

More information about these two entities or their request for expressions of interest can be obtained at www.Cnl.ca. and www.Aecl.ca.