ARC-100
ARC-100 is a liquid sodium-cooled reactor design rated at 100 MWe. The developer is engaging a regulator but has not submitted an application. It requires HALEU fuel.
A CNSC Vendor Design Review is explicitly not a licensing decision — it is a pre-licensing opinion on whether a design could in principle be licensed. NB Power would need to apply for a licence to construct, and a HALEU supply would need to exist.
Derived from the EBR-II sodium fast reactor that operated at Idaho for three decades, which gives it more operating heritage than most entries at this tier.
| Tier | Pre-application |
|---|---|
| Regulator | CNSC (Canada) |
| Application type | Vendor Design Review |
| Docket / reference | CNSC Vendor Design Review Phase 2, completed July 2025 |
| Application date | — |
| Review phase | VDR Phase 2 complete; no construction licence application |
| Decision expected | not stated |
| Coolant | Liquid sodium |
|---|---|
| Reactor family | Fast reactor (FBR) |
| Electrical output | 100MWe |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Fuel | Metallic uranium |
| Enrichment | HALEU |
| First site | Point Lepreau, New Brunswick |
| Offtakers | none announced |
This design needs HALEU — uranium enriched above 5% and below 20%. That is not the fuel any commercial Western power reactor uses today, and it is the single most common reason an advanced reactor timeline slips. Every Western facility that can make it or turn it into fuel:
| Facility | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| TRISO-X Fuel Facility (TX-1), Oak Ridge | not disclosed | construction |
| American Centrifuge Plant, Piketon | 900kg HALEU/yr | operating |
| Nuclear Fuel Services, Erwin | not disclosed | operating |
| Savannah River Site HEU downblending | 3,100kg HALEU total | operating |
| BWXT TRISO facility, Gillette | not disclosed | planned |
| Urenco Capenhurst HALEU line | not disclosed | planned |
Sources
- Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission · retrieved 2026-09-06