Naarea Opens Test Facility to Support Development of Microreactors

French microreactor developer Naarea has announced the commissioning of its industrial test facility and laboratory ‘I-Lab’. This facility will be used to conduct non-nuclear tests and experiments to support the development of its XAMR molten salt fast neutron microreactor.

The facility will host a team of approximately 20 Naarea engineers and will feature experimental setups to validate, in a non-nuclear environment, the technologies intended for use in Naarea’s microreactors (such as pumps, gas systems, materials, valves, chemical processes, sensors, etc.) and their mode of operation.

I-Lab will have three main areas:

1. An industrial area is designated for the production of coolant salts, prototyping, assembly, automated tests, and validation of future digital architecture of Naarea’s production facilities.
2. A testing area is dedicated to the operation of experimentation facilities designed to validate the thermohydraulic components for the XAMR. These facilities will primarily include test loops and testbeds on various scales.
3. The third area will comprise three specialized laboratories: a materials laboratory dedicated to studying corrosion and mechanical behavior; a chemistry and analysis laboratory for the development of methods, processes, and analysis of materials and their level of purity; and a gas laboratory for the development of XAMR gas systems (filtration of noble gases, drying of inerting gases, enrichment and treatment of chlorine gases, etc.).

The tests conducted at ‘I-Lab’ will be used to validate studies and calculations performed by engineering teams, test innovative processes and materials, and support the development of technical documentation to be submitted to the French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority.