Yasir Arafat is the technical lead of the microreactor project at one of the United States government’s preeminent nuclear research labs, Idaho National Lab, and he is leading the effort to build a tiny, relatively inexpensive micronuclear reactor.
Beyond being potential clean-energy options for remote locations or small communities, the MARVEL micro-reactor could become a key component of a clean energy grid that includes renewable solar and wind energy and battery storage, Arafat said. “The entire hardware can be built in a factory, like the way we make automobiles or cars,” Arafat told CNBC, allowing for the production of hundreds of microreactors a year.