Westinghouse eVinci hits high-temperature criticality record

Westinghouse said on September 15 that the eVinci microreactor completed zero-power high-temperature criticality testing at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center in Nevada with Los Alamos and the Nevada National Security Site. On September 3 the test reached criticality at 663 C, and researchers made a subcritical reactivity measurement at a peak core temperature of 1,011 C, a record for a reactivity measurement at NCERC. The work continues August's zero-power tests and feeds temperature-dependent data into prototype design ahead of a still-pending fueled DOME run at Idaho National Laboratory.