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GAIN announces Second round FY 2024 Nuclear Energy Voucher recipient

March 19, 2023

The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) announced today that three companies will be provided a GAIN Nuclear Energy (NE) Voucher to accelerate the innovation and application of advanced nuclear technologies. NE vouchers provide advanced nuclear technology innovators with access to the extensive nuclear research capabilities and expertise available across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory complex. This is the second award for FY 2024.

The businesses selected to receive a GAIN nuclear energy voucher for Round 2 FY 2024 are:

GAIN 2024 2nd Round
NE Voucher Recipient		Awarded ProposalPartner Facility
Element Factory, LLC
Cheyenne, WY		Investigation of Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) Process
Development for Graphite Neutron Moderator Production		Idaho National Laboratory
Kanata America, Inc.
Cheyenne, WY		Thermal Energy Storage with sCO2 Power
Conversion or Low-Cost Micro Modular Reactors –
Heat Transfer and sCO2 Power Cycle Assessment		Sandia National Laboratory
Oklo Inc.
Santa Clara, CA		Test Vehicle Development to Support
Oklo’s Advanced Fuels Roadmap		Idaho National Laboratory

GAIN NE voucher recipients do not receive direct financial awards. Vouchers provide funding to DOE laboratories to help businesses overcome critical technological and commercialization challenges. All awardees are responsible for a minimum 20 percent cost share, which could be an in-kind contribution.

The GAIN NE Voucher Program accepts applications on innovation that supports the production and utilization of nuclear energy (e.g., for generation of electricity, supply of process heat, etc.) in the following general topic areas:

  • Analysis and evaluation of, and for, advanced reactor concepts and associated designs, including development of R&D-based licensing technical requirements or regulatory strategies
  • Structural material and component development, testing and qualification
  • Advanced nuclear fuel development, fabrication and testing (includes fuel materials and cladding)
  • Development, testing, and qualification of instrumentation, controls, and sensor technologies that are hardened for harsh environments and secured against cyber intrusion
  • Modeling and simulation, high-performance computing, codes and methods
  • Technical assistance from subject matter experts and/or data/information to support technology development and/or confirm key technical or licensing issues


Further information on the GAIN nuclear energy voucher program as well as current and all past awards may be found here.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) established GAIN to provide the nuclear community with the technical, regulatory, and financial support necessary to move innovative nuclear energy technologies toward commercialization while ensuring the continued safe, reliable, and economic operation of the existing nuclear fleet. Through GAIN, DOE is making its state-of-the-art and continuously improving RD&D infrastructure available to stakeholders to achieve faster and cost-effective development of innovative nuclear energy technologies toward commercial readiness.

Visit GAIN at https://gain.inl.gov. Follow GAIN on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

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