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A new nuclear reactor design skips fuel entirely—eliminating meltdown risk while testing a safer future for nuclear power. Here’s how it works.
Nuclear energy has high risk and high rewards. Though it’s renewable and creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels, the risk of nuclear waste contamination and meltdown disasters leave many weary of building more nuclear reactors. The latter problem could be avoided with Italian tech company, Newcleo’s new test reactor.
Newcleo’s PRECURSOR reactor uses lead as a coolant, the company’s founder and CEO Stefano Buono said in a LinkedIn post. According to a Popular Mechanics article, “In PRECURSOR, the vessel that would otherwise hold fuel will be empty. Electrical heaters instead heat the molten lead in the space where fuel would have been, and the lead then transfers that heat to a steam generator that powers a turbine. PRECURSOR has an output of 10 thermal megawatts.”
How the Newcleo Reactor Works
The lead coolant is the star in this equation, boiling at a striking 3,170°F instead of the water coolant used by a typical reactor—that boils at 212°F. This much higher boiling point significantly lessens the risk of water coolant evaporating under extreme situations, which can leave the reactor core exposed to overheating. Further, heated lead can circulate on its own without pumps because of its density. It can also identify fuel leakage by solidifying upon contact.
The PRECURSOR will be completed at the end of 2026 and serve as demonstration of the lead coolant capabilities in a safer, un-fueled capacity.
“What makes [the PRECURSOR] truly unique is that it will generate electricity using a turbine (the only component we didn’t manufacture but just completed by our partner FINCANTIERI) – making it potentially the only facility in the world to do such a complete demonstration of reactor functionalities,” Buono continued on LinkedIn.
The PRECURSOR allows newcleo to test the functionality of the reactor without the risk of going supercritical since it operates with no fuel. Critical mass is the minimum amount of fissile material (i.e. plutonium or uranium) to maintain a nuclear chain reaction. Going supercritical means that minimum threshold is surpassed, causing exponentially increasing fission reactions and the likelihood that the fuel ignites an explosion. Without any fuel, this reactor will never encounter this risk, allowing safer testing as fueled reactors are developed.
Other Newcleo Projects
While the PRECURSOR reactor won’t use nuclear fuel, Newcleo is also working on a reactor that will use nuclear fuel—the LFR-AS-30 will likely be online by 2031.
Newcleo will partner with the U.S.-based nuclear company Oklo—one of two companies chosen for the Department of Energy’s Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program—to use nearly 20 metric tons of the element left over from the Cold War for nuclear fuel and reactor development.
“Surplus plutonium was once viewed solely as a nuclear liability and a multi-billion-dollar financial drain on taxpayers—but it doesn’t have to remain one,” Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Josh Jarrell said. “We are redirecting this Cold War legacy to serve as a vital energy asset, powering the next generation of American nuclear innovation.”
“We are proud of this transatlantic partnership with Oklo to deliver on our promise of reducing nuclear liabilities through our fuel and reactor technologies,” Newcleo’s Buono said in an Oklo press release. “The U.S. is taking a visionary approach to the fuel cycle, and we look forward to contributing to it.”
This post originally appeared at inc.com.
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