New York, NY, Sept. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — – NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) (“NANO Nuclear” or “the Company”), a leading advanced nuclear energy and technology company focused on developing clean energy solutions, is proud to announce its execution of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
This ten-year agreement marks a major milestone in NANO Nuclear’s mission to build, test, gain regulatory approval for, and ultimately commercialize its advanced nuclear microreactors in development, notably its stationary KRONOS MMR™ and portable LOKI MMR™ systems. The CRADA will enable NANO Nuclear to leverage INL’s world-class capabilities and expertise through the National Reactor Innovation Center to accelerate reactor development, from reactor design and materials qualification to siting, regulatory licensing, deployment, and decommissioning.
Figure 1 – NANO Nuclear Signs CRADA with U.S. Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory to Support Its Advanced Nuclear Reactor Development.
INL is well-known for its world-class facilities, nuclear engineering expertise, and modeling and simulation capabilities, which NANO Nuclear expects to utilize to refine and validate its microreactor designs and technologies.
“This CRADA supports the continued upwards progress of NANO Nuclear,” said James Walker, Chief Executive Officer of NANO Nuclear. “The support and collaboration of the U.S. Department of Energy and Idaho National Laboratory heralds the next phase of our technical maturity as we work towards achieving the key steps necessary for commercial readiness. With INL’s unmatched facilities and expertise, we are even better positioned to demonstrate and deploy the next generation of micro nuclear technology across the U.S. and globally.”
The benefits of the CRADA to NANO Nuclear are expected to include:
- Advanced Reactor Demonstration: Comprehensive lifecycle support for microreactor testing and deployment at INL.
- Materials Science and Irradiation Testing: Access to state-of-the-art testing environments and examination capabilities for fuel, components, and reactor materials.
- Regulatory and Licensing Support: Assistance with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy regulatory pathways and safety case development.
- Commercialization Enablement: Siting, engineering, quality assurance and quality control support, and eventual reactor operation and decommissioning services.
NANO Nuclear’s microreactor technologies are being developed to meet the growing demand for resilient, modular, and clean energy solutions across defense, government, space, AI datacenters and commercial applications.
“With INL having led the technology development for high-temperature gas-cooled reactor for the last several decades and having a remarkable wealth of expertise, this new agreement will help us to deliver simple, safe, and reliable small stationary and portable nuclear microreactors in the coming years,” said Florent Heidet, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer at NANO Nuclear.