Versatile Test Reactor

Funding for the project was scrapped in 2022 [1] After the Fast Flux Test Facility and the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) were decommissioned in 1992 and 1994, respectively, the United States was left with no fast-neutron reactor in its fleet.

In February 2019, VTR cleared Critical Decision 0, demonstrating a mission need requiring investment, the first in a series of project approvals.

[4] In November 2019, Battelle Energy Alliance, the organization that manages Idaho National Laboratory, announced an Expression of Interest (EOI) seeking an industry partner to design and construct the VTR.

Later reactor fuel could consist of other mixtures and varying enrichments of uranium and plutonium and could use other alloying metals in place of zirconium.

The preliminary requirements that meet these considerations include: Edwin Lyman, senior scientist and acting director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned the need for a fast-neutron reactor, stating that existing facilities could be utilized to produce fast neutrons.