Lauren Young, program director for NewCube Energy, told the House Energy, Federal Relations and Technology Committee that NewCube is developing a transportable microreactor intended for remote communities and process‑heat applications.

The company, Young said, is incubated by Idealab and operates in Idaho Falls to leverage expertise at the Idaho National Laboratory. NewCube’s design is a microreactor in the 1–2 megawatt electric range (roughly 48 megawatts thermal in the company’s description) intended to produce very high temperatures — Young said the technology targets more than 1,000 degrees Celsius — to serve industrial process heat as well as electricity in locations now dependent on diesel generation.

NewCube described its use of TRISO‑type fuel and said the design can take advantage of high‑assay, low‑enriched uranium (HALU, up to about 19.75 percent enrichment) to increase fuel life. "DOE has dubbed [TRISO] the most robust fuel on Earth," Young said, describing TRISO particles as individually encapsulated in silicon carbide and noting tests that demonstrate survival at very high temperatures.

Why this matters: committee members pressed for operational and regulatory details because microreactors raise questions about licensing, fuel supply, waste handling and siting. NewCube said the microreactor’s small physical footprint and factory assembly model are intended to reduce on‑site construction and enable deployment to remote locations, where the company said the economics can already compete with diesel generation.

Key facts NewCube presented: the design targets 1–2 MWe (company described about 48 MWt), factory modular assembly with road‑transportable components, heat‑pipe cooling that eliminates pumps and many moving parts, and TRISO fuel with a tested temperature tolerance the presenter described as above 1,800 degrees Celsius. The company said TRISO fuel and HALU help lengthen run cycles; in some use cases they expect multi‑year operations without refueling.

On fuel sourcing and back‑end handling NewCube acknowledged constraints. The presenter said commercial HALU supply is currently limited and that, historically, much enriched material came from Russian suppliers; the company said U.S. and allied production capability is being scaled and that DOE and private firms are pursuing fuel and reprocessing pathways. NewCube noted that TRISO’s robustness complicates some traditional reprocessing methods but that commercial reprocessing and long‑term storage approaches are under development.

Committee members asked about refueling and timelines. Young said onsite refueling is technically possible and estimated refueling operations for a small unit would be shorter than a month, while also saying the company has engaged with regulators and plans pre‑licensing interactions. When asked about a deployment timeline, the presenter said NewCube is in early design stages and working toward demonstration and initial commercial deployments in the latter half of the 2020s into the early 2030s.

The presentation concluded after committee questions about licensing, fuel availability and siting. Committee members asked staff to provide earlier legislative study material on advanced reactors for background during upcoming bill work.

Looking ahead, the presenter left contact information and company materials with staff; committee members said they expect to see additional briefings and supporting documentation as bills and policy discussions concerning advanced reactors move forward.