Projects / prj-ornl-tcr
Transformational Challenge Reactor microreactor test proposal at ORNL (2019)
Historical proposal. ORNL's August 2019 safety design strategy for the DOE-funded Transformational Challenge Reactor programme proposed to design, build and briefly test-operate a helium-cooled microreactor with an additively manufactured core (operating envelope under 6 MWth) in Building 7709 on Copper Ridge, with startup activities targeted for 2023. ORNL's current programme page describes TCR as a manufacturing, materials and computation programme and records no reactor construction or operation; later status is not stated.
- Stage
- Announced
- Design
- Design not selected (Microreactor)
- Technology
- Not selected · unknown
- Operator(s)
- —
- Vendor(s)
- —
- Location
- Building 7709, Copper Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory · United States · precision: undisclosed
Searchable without an invented map pin. - Coordinates
- undisclosed / not plotted
- Electrical capacity
- — · scope: module
- Thermal capacity
- —
- Modules planned
- —
- Inclusion basis
- microreactor_labeled
- Confidence
- medium
- Last verified
- 2026-10-03 (publication/verification date)
Milestones & dated events
- No dated milestones recorded yet.
Regulatory actions
- None recorded in this release.
Sources
- ORNL: Safety Design Strategy for the Transformational Challenge Reactor (ORNL/SPR-2019/1254, August 2019) (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-03)
- ORNL: Transformational Challenge Reactor programme page (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-03)