Proven Technology. Certain Deployment.
The ARC-100 is not a concept reactor. It is the commercial evolution of EBR-II, a sodium-cooled fast reactor that operated successfully for 30 years at Idaho National Laboratory. Generation IV technology, validated by three decades of data, engineered for deployment today.
It holds the most advanced regulatory position of any Generation IV advanced small modular reactor in Canada, with CNSC Vendor Design Review Phase II complete and preliminary design finalized.
Sodium. Fast Neutrons. A Fundamentally Better Reactor.
Sodium Coolant Advantage
Liquid sodium operates at atmospheric pressure and boils at 883 °C, giving the ARC-100 enormous thermal margin. There is no high-pressure water and no pressure vessel failures. Sodium's thermal conductivity is roughly 100 times that of water, enabling a compact core and exceptional heat transfer efficiency.
Metallic Fuel
Unlike the ceramic oxide fuel used in most reactors, the ARC-100 uses a metallic uranium-zirconium alloy. Metallic fuel has superior thermal conductivity, tolerates higher burnup, and enables the passive safety mechanisms that define the ARC-100's operating envelope.
Fast Neutron Spectrum
Fast neutrons breed new fissile material from fertile isotopes and transmute long-lived waste into short-lived products. This enables the closing of the fuel cycle to achieve 99% fuel utilization, and fundamentally changes the waste equation. What conventional reactors leave behind, the ARC-100 consumes.
Passive Safety
In any loss-of-power or loss-of-cooling scenario, the reactor shuts itself down through natural physics: thermal expansion of the fuel and coolant inserts negative reactivity, and natural convection of the sodium removes decay heat indefinitely. No operator action. No backup diesel generators. No external power. The laws of physics are the safety system.
30 Years of Proof. Not a Single Assumption.
The Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) operated at Argonne National Laboratory from 1964 to 1994. Over three decades, it generated electricity, proved the viability of metallic fuel, demonstrated passive safety in live tests, and pioneered the sodium-cooled fast reactor concept that the ARC-100 commercializes.
In 1986, EBR-II operators deliberately induced both a loss-of-flow and loss-of-heat-sink accident with the reactor at full power. The reactor shut itself down. No damage. No release. No intervention. This was not a simulation. It was a live demonstration of inherent safety that no other reactor type has replicated.
ARC Clean Technology is not inventing new science. We are commercializing proven science. Every design decision in the ARC-100 is backed by empirical data from 30 years of successful operation. The technology risk that plagues other advanced reactor programs simply does not exist here.
Engineered to Outperform Every Alternative.
The ARC-100 does not compromise. It is safer than conventional nuclear, cleaner than renewables on a lifecycle basis, more reliable than gas, and more compact than any of them. Six fundamental advantages set it apart.
Inherent Safety
The ARC-100 cannot melt down. Sodium coolant operates at atmospheric pressure, and the reactor shuts itself down through the laws of physics alone. No operator action, no backup systems, no external power required.
99% Fuel Utilization
On a closed fuel cycle, the ARC-100 extracts virtually all available energy from its fuel. Today's reactors use less than 10%. This means dramatically less waste and centuries of fuel supply from existing stockpiles.
Compact Footprint
A single ARC-100 fits on a city block. That makes co-location with data centers, industrial facilities, and urban grids not just possible but practical. No exclusion zones. No remote siting constraints.
Rapid Construction
Factory-assembled modules arrive on site ready for installation. The rapid construction schedule compresses a decade-long nuclear timeline into something that matches the pace of data center buildouts.
True Load Following
Unlike conventional nuclear plants locked into baseload mode, the ARC-100 ramps output to match demand in real time. Pair it with renewables or fluctuating industrial loads without curtailment.
Waste Reduction
The fast neutron spectrum transmutes long-lived actinides into short-lived fission products. The result is waste that requires centuries of storage, not millennia.
Rapid Regulatory Momentum in the US and Canada
Canada
ARC is the only Generation IV advanced small modular reactor to have completed both phases of the CNSC Vendor Design Review and have an active site license underway. No other Generation IV aSMR in Canada has reached this milestone. We are advancing within the existing regulatory framework, with no required amendments.
CNSC VDR Phase I
CNSC VDR Phase II
License to Prepare Site (LTPS) Application Submitted
Environmental Assessment Application Submitted
Preliminary Design
Detailed Design
Construction License
United States
ARC has been in active pre-licensing engagement with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) since 2020. ARC is rapidly advancing commercial deployment through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) and preparing for the NRC’s Part 53 modernized licensing pathway.
U.S. DOE ARDP Conceptual Design
U.S. DOE ARDP Preliminary Design
NRC Regulatory Engagement Plan (REP) Submitted
NRC Pre-Application Engagement (Over 150 technical documents submitted; 9 formal meetings completed)
Detailed Design – U.S. NRC Licensing (via 10 CFR Part 53)
The Technology Is Proven. The Timeline Is Now.
Whether you need 100MWe or a gigawatt, the ARC-100 scales to meet your requirements. Our engineering team is ready to scope a deployment for your site, your timeline, and your energy demands.
Contact Our Team