In September 1963, President John F. Kennedy stood behind the podium in front of more than 30,000 people in south-central Washington and broke ground on the most powerful fission heating power plant of the time. "This is a true partnership between the national government and local communities to benefit our country," he said of Hanford's project.

Last spring—nearly 60 years after President Kennedy’s speech—the same podium was used to announce a new partnership to deploy the next generation of American nuclear technology.

This partnership between X-energy, an advanced reactor developer; Energy Northwest, which operates nuclear, solar, energy storage, hydropower, and wind energy facilities throughout the Northwest; Grant Utilities District provides services to more than 40,000 customers in Grant County, central Washington The service demonstrates a new and forward-looking public-private cooperation model to promote the future of clean energy innovation.

The partnership will work with the U.S. Department of Energy to build and operate a first-of-its-kind high-temperature gas-cooled "pebble bed" reactor on U.S. soil through its pioneering advanced reactor demonstration program. After the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducts a thorough safety review of the technology and the proposed site north of the Three Cities and a rigorous environmental analysis, a license may be issued in the middle of the decade, and the new carbon-free electronics of the reactor will reach the grid in 2027- 2028.

The 220,000 pebbles used in the reactor are polished graphite balls. Inside these graphite balls are thousands of poppy seed-sized uranium nuclei, surrounded by a thin layer of ceramic carbon and silicon carbide. The reactor does not have to be shut down to refuel; when the reactor is running, the operator will add pebbles from the top and remove used pebbles from the bottom.

The result is a highly available, reliable, and flexible reactor that generates high-temperature steam through nuclear energy, which is favorably paired with other carbon-free partners on the grid in the region. Because it uses inert helium to transfer heat from graphite fuel pebbles-instead of the water and standard fuel rods used in most reactors today-X energy plants require fewer safety systems and are faster than traditional light water-based plants To obtain permits and build nuclear reactors.

The reactor will be able to accomplish multiple tasks at the same time: it will use carbon-free energy to power thousands of homes in the Pacific Northwest, lay the foundation for decades of exports to countries that desire clean and reliable electricity, and reaffirm U.S. leadership and Innovation in the field of clean energy and consolidate our ability to compete with international competitors such as Russia and China.

Advanced nuclear energy is the most affordable way to achieve our goal of a clean energy future. A study released by Northwest Energy last year found that adding “stable” or base-load capacity to a mix of other base-load and intermittent energy sources in the Pacific Northwest would save the region more than $8 billion a year in a zero-carbon system .

We respond to the goals of industry, conservation partners, and local governments, and call for a clean energy future rooted in US energy leadership. Only by making nuclear energy the basic principle of our national energy strategy can this task be possible to succeed.

58 years ago, President Kennedy talked about two forms of protection when a state-of-the-art nuclear power plant was started. He used the traditional meaning of the term, but also described it as the use of science and technology to achieve major breakthroughs that improve our environment and make our country a more livable place. His words still apply today.

"So we use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and electricity."

The US nuclear innovation is not only beneficial to our interests, but the export of these domestic clean energy technologies is also beneficial to the international community—at the same time ensuring the status and influence of the United States on the global stage.

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