Abilene Christian University is getting a new addition on campus. It’s not a football stadium, a parking garage, or a building named after a wealthy donor. In fact, it’s something U.S. officials haven’t approved in more than 30 years: a nuclear reactor.
The university’s on-campus research reactor. Abilene Christian University (ACU) received a construction permit for its new research reactor from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) this month. The permit allows the university to begin building its molten salt reactor, a type of reactor that uses molten salt coolant with fuel dissolved in the salt.
“This is the first research reactor project we’ve approved for construction in decades, and the staff successfully worked with ACU to resolve several technical issues with this novel design,” Andrea Veil, the director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. “Going forward, we’ll have inspectors on the ACU campus when construction gets started.”
The research reactor will be built by the university’s NEXT Lab and Natura Resources, a nuclear energy company in Abilene, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Enough power for 250 homes. As far as power goes, Abilene Christian’s reactor will be able to power 250 homes. That may sound like a lot, but it’s tiny compared to what can be accomplished by a nuclear power plant.
Take Illinois, for example. The state generates more electricity from nuclear power than any other state in the U.S. with its six power plants, which house 11 total reactors. These reactors produced 54% of Illinois net electricity generation in 2023.
Notably, federal regulators have not given Abilene Christian the green light to produce electricity with its research reactor yet. To do so, the university must seek additional approval to fuel the reactor with uranium.
Molten Salt Reactor. With its research reactor, Abilene Christian aims conduct research on molten salt systems as well as educate and train operators and scientists to further this type of technology.
Molten salt reactors use liquid fuel, such as uranium or thorium, dissolved in molten salt. The molten salt is used to both carry the fuel and cool the reactor, which can reach very high temperatures. In comparison, traditional reactors use solid rods made of fissile materials and water to cool down the reactor.
According to Natura Resources, molten salt reactors are “walk away safe” because the use of liquid fuel reduces the possibility of a meltdown.
“If a malfunction occurs, the fuel salt cools, turns into a solid, and is safely contained within the system,” Natura Resources says on its website.
Housing nuclear reactors on college campuses isn’t unheard of in Texas. While the idea of having a nuclear reactor at a university may raise eyebrows, it’s not the first campus to do so in Texas. Both Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin have on-campus nuclear reactors, too.
The reactor at Abilene Christian is a one-megawatt reactor and is expected to begin operations in 2026. Over time, Natura Resources hopes to produce 100-megawatt reactors, enough to power roughly 25,000 homes.
Image | Josef Rokos
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