TRIGA reactor to produce electricity for the first time

The University of Utah announced that it will be producing electricity with its TRIGA reactor for the first time this summer. The project is in collaboration with Elemental Nuclear Energy, and the electricity will be used to power a "mini AI data center."

"This will be, to our knowledge, the first time any university reactor has produced electricity, not just our own," said Ted Goodell, the university's reactor manager.

According to a 2024 Department of Energy report, data centers are expected to consume approximately 6.7 to 12 percent of all U.S. electricity by 2028. As a highly reliable source of carbon-free energy, nuclear power has been widely discussed as an option to meet that demand.

"This experiment represents an important step in demonstrating how compact nuclear systems can be paired with advanced power conversion technologies to support emerging energy demands," said David Blythe, cofounder and CEO of Elemental Nuclear.

Elemental's compact, cold Brayton cycle power system will capture heat from the TRIGA reactor to produce 2-3 kW of electricity, which will be used to power a "high-performance GPU node executing a live AI workload."

"Our objective is to deliver a commercially viable nuclear microreactor by 2030-2031," said Mike Luther, founder of Elemental Nuclear. "Experiments like this enable us to move quickly, validate real-world systems, and build toward scalable solutions."