Kairos Power, the California company building salt-cooled reactors on former Manhattan Project land in Oak Ridge, is launching a new initiative to develop advanced manufacturing and construction techniques while training workers for Tennessee's growing nuclear industry.
Announced Aug. 18, the Nuclear Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Precast will bring together Kairos, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and other partners to develop new methods for nuclear facilities.
Ed Blandford, co-founder and chief technology officer for Kairos, said the initiative will help the nuclear industry bring affordable advanced reactors to the market. The organizations working with Kairos on the project will spend a year exploring how to advance the initiative.
"By combining industry perspectives with the R&D power of our national labs and the strengths of our academic partners through NuCAMP," Blandford said in a news release, "we can create new capabilities that will benefit the entire Tennessee nuclear community and the broader industry at large."
Kairos is accustomed to bringing in scientific advancements and partners from Tennessee. The salt-cooling technology its reactors will use was first developed at the Oak Ridge National Lab.
Get the Daily Briefing newsletter: Keep up with the latest news about nuclear and tech innovation in East Tennessee
The Tickle College of Engineering at UT will be among the groups exploring code gaps that limit the use of advanced technologies in nuclear construction. The university, according to the news release, also will pursue the viability of two master's programs focused on "manufacturing engineering for factory-based nuclear production" and "precast concrete construction."
Chattanooga State and Roane State community colleges, meanwhile, will look at specialized training for nuclear piping welders and other nuclear manufacturing skills to build a pipeline of workers for the industry's future growth in Tennessee, which is a frontrunner for a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus.
Gov. Bill Lee told Knox News earlier this month the campus − a Department of Energy initiative designed to "strengthen and modernize the nation's full nuclear fuel cycle" − could bring $50 billion in capital investments and 25,000 jobs to Tennessee.
The governor, who launched the state's dedicated nuclear fund in 2023 to encourage industry growth, was in Knoxville on Aug. 4 to celebrate Oak Ridge being designated by the DOE as an American Energy Hub, further formalizing advancement that has been underway for years at former Cold War-era sites.
In a June video announcing the American Energy Hubs initiative, DOE Assistant Secretary Tim Walsh said the program would enable "all kinds of economic development and prosperity" while "lifting up the middle class with good, high-paying jobs."
These efforts are well underway in Oak Ridge, where the Department of Energy in 2024 finished cleaning up the former K-25 gaseous diffusion plant used during the Manhattan Project and Cold War. Transformed into the Heritage Center Industrial Park, the site has welcomed a wave of nuclear companies in recent years focused on restoring American uranium enrichment capabilities.
"NuCAMP reflects the power of East Tennessee's innovation ecosystem - industry, a national laboratory, and educational institutions working together to solve real deployment challenges," ORNL Director Dr. Stephen Streiffer, said in the news release.
Through the lab's research capabilities, Streiffer said, "we look forward to helping mature advanced manufacturing and construction methods for the nuclear industry while supporting the workforce needed to bring next-generation reactors to market."
Knox News reporter Sophia Tiedge and editor Ryan Wilusz contributed background from Gov. Bill Lee's visit to Knoxville earlier this month.
Mariah Franklin reports on technology and energy for Knox News. Email: [email protected]. Signal: mariahfranklin.01
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: New plan will train next-generation workers for Tennessee nuclear industry