Now, for the first time in 50 years, INL is preparing to build two new reactors and one reactor experiment at its desert site. One of these projects, the Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation (MARVEL) microreactor will produce about 85 kilowatts of heat — which will be converted to approximately 20 kilowatts of electricity. A reactor this size would power around 10 homes. //

Microreactors like MARVEL are small nuclear reactors built in factories and transported wherever they are needed to provide electricity and heat. Initially, these reactors could power communities like remote Alaskan towns that now rely on expensive diesel shipments, along with industrial applications that require high temperature heat and electricity.