Deployable Energy next in line for testing in NRIC’s DOME

On Wednesday, Idaho National Laboratory announced that start-up Deployable Energy is next in line to test its reactor design in the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC).

This update comes as something of a surprise, considering that many in the industry assumed that slot would go to Westinghouse.

The context: DOME is a reactor test bed built from the containment system of the decommissioned Experimental Breeder Reactor-II. The facility is designed to test demonstration reactors up to 20 MWt employing fuels enriched to less than 20 percent uranium-235. In 2023, three companies (Radiant, Westinghouse, and the now-defunct Ultra Safe Nuclear) were given front-end engineering and experiment design funding to design reactor experiments for DOME. In 2024, Radiant and Westinghouse received a second round of Department of Energy funding for the design of these experiments.

Last year, NRIC officially opened applications for DOME. While Radiant and Westinghouse naturally had a leg up on other developers, a DOE representative confirmed to Nuclear News that the companies would have to submit applications alongside any other interested developers. Those applications would then be "evaluated based on the merits of the application against the application criteria to establish a sequencing order."

In July 2025, Radiant ultimately was selected as the first company that would use DOME, testing its Kaleidos Demonstration Reactor first beginning in 2026. NRIC confirmed to Nuclear News that Westinghouse's eVinci reactor was conditionally selected at the same time for a testing slot beginning in 2027.

That slot opened back up in September 2025 when "Westinghouse notified NRIC that their plans had changed and they would not use its awarded 2027 slot," NRIC told NN.

While Antares at one point also was in the running as a potential early tester in DOME, CEO Jordan Bramble told NN that the company ultimately did not submit an application for a slot. "We moved away from using DOME in 2024 and established MFC-793 as our test bed for Mark-0 as well as the Mark-1 reactor," he explained. MFC-793-also called the Reactor and Criticality Experiment (RACE) facility-is located at INL's Materials and Fuels Complex and has been used by Antares throughout the Reactor Pilot Program.

Zooming in on Deployable: So, with Antares pursuing a different pathway and Westinghouse out of the running at least for now, the second testing slot at DOME was open-and now has been filled by Deployable Energy.

This is not the company's first interaction with NRIC. In April 2026, it was selected as one of the first companies for NRIC's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, a program that extended and expanded the opportunities of the preceding Reactor and Fuel Line Pilot Programs.

Through Launch Pad, Deployable achieved zero-power fueled criticality at INL on July 1-ostensibly meeting the challenge of Executive Order 14301 despite not being an official member of the Reactor Pilot Program.

Now, at DOME, the company aims to test its 1-MWe, light water-moderated, helium-cooled Nuclear Unity Battery design. This test will be a valuable opportunity for the company to evaluate the reactor's system performance, integration, controls, safety, and operational procedures.

It is worth noting, however, that Deployable's newly secured slot comes with caveats. "The company must meet specific milestones throughout the process to maintain its allotted time in DOME," NRIC's press release explained. When asked for specifics on these milestones, an NRIC spokesperson told NN that the award conditions "center on providing NRIC with specific schedule and funding information" but declined to disclose specific milestones or thresholds.

What comes next: "We have a strong pipeline of companies interested in the DOME-and that's exactly the kind of momentum we want to see," NRIC Director Brad Tomer said in the press release announcing Deployable's selection. However, NRIC confirmed to NN that "no tentative company or project has been identified for testing following Deployable Energy. A competitive request for applications will be announced in 2027 to determine the follow-on project(s)."