Posted on 06/13/2026 9:07:57 AM PDT by TheDon
Nuclear energy is about to play a huge role in powering America, but the new reactors that will do the heavy lifting are surprisingly small.
Some are so small they are classified as microreactors—mobile powerhouses capable of being transported anywhere they’re needed to provide power, including the most remote sites on the planet.
Spotlight on America traveled to the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where these microreactors are about to be powered up and tested for the very first time inside a facility already famous for making history.
Now, history is unfolding here once again. The newly renovated and reconfigured Dome is taking center stage to test newly unleashed nuclear powerhouses, a massive moment for energy technology, focusing on a very small nuclear reactor.
Tomer and his staff are preparing to test fully fueled microreactors inside the facility for the very first time.
"The Dome will give you that extra layer of safety," Tomer explains. "So, you put it in there, you operate it, you prove that it's safe to operate individually."
Not Your Grandpa's Nuclear:
Unlike the massive, sprawling nuclear power plants of the past, INL Director John Wagner says this new breed of nuclear technology is fundamentally different.
This wave of innovation includes microreactors and small modular reactors (SMRs), both built with nuclear cores that are manufactured, fueled, and sealed in factories.
"The way I think about it is a reactor that is fully fabricated in a factory, and the whole reactor can be transported," Wagner says.
While SMR cores will eventually be placed into permanent structures, microreactors are built for maximum mobility:
Compact size: Designed to fit easily on standard trucks and inside shipping containers. Rapid deployment: Ready to travel anywhere to provide instant, on-site power. Long lifespan: Capable of operating for years without ever needing to be refueled. "We are absolutely unleashing American ingenuity and brilliance," Tomer says.
The First Test: Radiant's Kaleidos:
California-based Radiant Industries Inc. will be the first company to test a microreactor in the Dome, testing its new microreactor, Kaleidos, which is scheduled to begin in July.
Kaleidos promises to provide 1.2 megawatts of electricity 24 hours a day for five years without refueling, enough energy to power 1,000 homes, run a small industrial site, or provide emergency backup power to areas devastated by natural disasters.
Tomer describes the technology that’s being tested as a “game changer."
The system also introduces massive cooling innovations. The Kaleidos reactor uses helium gas—not water—for cooling. Other microreactors under development rely on liquid metals to keep temperatures stable. In both designs, the cooling materials never come into direct contact with the radioactive core.
Meltdown-Proof Fuel:
Another major innovation is the nuclear fuel itself, known as TRISO (tristructural isotropic particles), tiny, engineered kernels of enriched uranium coated in robust layers of ceramic material. Wagner notes that these particles are virtually meltdown-proof.
"Because of the materials involved in the design of these TRISO fuels, they can withstand very, very high temperatures," Wagner says. "Such that even if you can postulate the most extreme case of high temperatures, they won't melt."
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Not alot on how these reactors will be used. It will be interesting to see how they are used and how cost effective they are. What happens to spent reactors?
I can’t wait to buy one these things and say goodbye to electric bills.
Some day future historians will be like, "They split the atom and then abandoned it for windmills. Why?"
My conspiracy minded outlook is thinking this is really ‘cold fusion’ bring implemented under disguise as experimental use.
“In both designs, the cooling materials never come into direct contact with the radioactive core.”
Mini reactors are a great idea. The logistics involved and the costs probably mean I won’t see them deployed in more than an experimental highly restrictive nature in my lifetime.
FREE REPUBLIC LINK: (VANITY) First US Based IV Generation Nuclear Power Plant to come online in 2026
This is an amazing development we should have embraced decades ago, but perhaps we had to wait for technology to catch up.
These are going to fully scaleable from a large data center, to a town municipal power, up to a city.
There will be infrastructure in place to handle the waste, and stop this insanely stupid storage of waste we see now at nuclear reactors nationwide, forced by Leftist environmentalists.
(and they flew the parts there!)
A thousand mini-Chernobyls.
Radioactive security.
Can the fuel be easily vandalized or stolen?
Imagine being able to buy a small sealed reactor that would be portable, that would power your home and/or a small business that last you indefinitely. No outages, no recurring bills, move, just take it with you..(Imagination probably working overtime...)
I think they mentioned sealed units, so probably encased in steel or stainless steel,
It is impossible in modern America to hear of wonderful advancements like this that America used to take for granted, and not have part of the mind wonder how immigration, especially Muslim immigration, might affect the use and implementation of this new technology, our infrastructure used to be open, mostly unguarded and just part of the landscape, and not thought of as potentially exploitable for internal enemy use to turn against us.
Your comment:
“…we should have adopted years ago”
You also answered why it didn’t happen:
“… and stop this insanely stupid storage of waste we see now at nuclear reactors nationwide, forced by Leftist environmentalists.”
Innovation is the greatest sacrifice to adopting leftist ideals. (Plus the unnecessary deaths of milllions Leftists require to maintain control)
You are so right on this. The idiotic media hysteria caused decades of lost time and massive wasted expense.
Absolutely 100%. Leftism is the face of evil on Earth today. It is murder and poverty presented to people behind a mask of benevolence and “good intentions” which people everywhere still buy into.
Military ships and submarines in the USA have had nuclear reactors for 50 years. They are safe. These are surely different but the track record is clear: small nuclear reactors are effective and safe when properly used and maintained.
“Can the fuel be easily vandalized or stolen?”
That is my question too.
Could terrorists seize one and hold a city hostage by threatening to turn it into a dirty bomb?
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