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eVinci

Output
5MWe

eVinci is a heat pipe-cooled reactor design from Westinghouse Electric Company rated at 5 MWe. The developer is engaging a regulator but has not submitted an application. It requires HALEU fuel.

What would have to be true

Westinghouse would need to submit an actual licence application, and a HALEU TRISO supply would need to exist at a scale that currently does not. A heat-pipe reactor has no pumped coolant and no operating precedent at commercial scale, so the licensing basis has to be established from scratch.

A solid-core heat pipe reactor with no pumped coolant and no water — closer to a battery than a conventional plant, intended for remote sites and data centres.

Regulatory position
Tier Pre-application
RegulatorUS NRC
Application typePre-application engagement
Docket / referenceNRC pre-application activities, eVinci microreactor
Application date
Review phasePre-application interactions
Decision expectednot stated
Design
CoolantHeat pipe
Reactor familynot classified
Electrical output5MWe
Thermal outputnot disclosed
FuelTRISO
Enrichment HALEUUp to 19.75% U-235
First sitenone announced
Offtakersnone announced
Fuel supply for this design

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:

FacilityCapacityStatus
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