The Department of Energy has approved the Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (NSDA) submitted by Valar Atomics for the Ward250 project, a 250 kWth High Temperature Gas-cooled Research Reactor at the Utah San Rafael Energy Research Center. The approval fulfills requirements under 10 CFR Part 830 and aligns with the Other Transaction Agreement between DOE and Valar Atomics.
The Ward250 facility will operate as a Contractor-Owned, Contractor-Operated (COCO) facility under DOE jurisdiction for a 12-month operational period. The reactor design incorporates TRISO fuel particles and passive safety systems, building on hardware previously tested in the non-nuclear WardZero program.
The approved NSDA establishes a two-step safety documentation process: a Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis (PDSA) at 50% design completion, followed by a final Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for the as-built facility. The safety analysis will use the Maximum Hypothetical Accident methodology adapted from NUREG-1537 for DOE authorization.
DOE has approved the following alternatives to standard requirements:
- ANSI/ANS-15.8-1995 for quality assurance instead of ASME NQA-1
- ANSI/ANS-15.4-2016 for conduct of operations with selective DOE O 422.1 elements
- Reduced surveillance requirements based on the 12-month operational duration
With NSDA approval complete, the project will proceed through design milestones leading to startup authorization within 12 months. The facility will support HTGR technology development through integrated systems testing at temperatures up to 650°C.
the document can be found here: [100403][02] Ward250 Nuclear Safety Design Agreement 02.pdf