TRISO-X, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of X-Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: XE), has begun the next phase of construction at its TX-1 fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, transitioning from vertical construction to interior buildout and equipment installation.

Clark Construction Group will continue as general contractor, overseeing the interior buildout of the 214,000 sq. ft. process equipment and administration building, installation of fuel fabrication equipment, and construction of an adjacent graphite matrix powder building.

Once operational, the facility is expected to produce 700,000 TRISO-X pebbles per year, equivalent to 5 metric tons of uranium, with capacity to fuel up to 11 Xe-100 reactors. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted TRISO-X a 40-year Special Nuclear Material License for the plant, which the company claims is the first NRC Category 2 nuclear fuel facility license to process High Assay Low Enriched Uranium.

The facility is intended to supply fuel for X-energy's proposed Xe-100 reactor deployment in partnership with Dow, Inc. at its UCC Seadrift Operations site on the Texas Gulf Coast, as part of the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

"This next phase of construction marks an important transition point as we move toward installing the systems and equipment that will make the facility operational," said Joel Duling, President of TRISO-X.

In recent weeks, TRISO-X also extended a cooperative research and development agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, acquired an additional 70 acres for its Horizon Center campus, and received a Tennessee economic development grant to support expansion of its fuel manufacturing operations.