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INL-26-040
Response Deadline
May 6, 2026, 5:59 AM(MDT)15 days
Eligibility
Contract Type
Special Notice
Request for Information
Space Reactor Industrial Base Assessment
THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. DO NOT SUBMIT PROPOSALS IN RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE.
Purpose
The Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting a Space Reactor Industrial Base Assessment to identify gaps in the U.S. industrial base and recommend actions to close them. The assessment is mandated by National Science and Technology Memorandum 3 (NSTM 3, April 14, 2026), which implements Executive Order 14369, Ensuring American Space Superiority (December 18, 2025).
The specific mandate: assess the readiness of the U.S. nuclear reactor industrial base to produce up to four space reactors within five years, covering reactor design, long-lead-time components, and fuel allocation or production.
This RFI, and the broader assessment it informs, supports DOE's mission to develop and enable the use of space nuclear power systems to advance U.S. scientific, exploration, and national security objectives — in coordination with sponsoring agencies and as directed by Space Policy Directive-6, "National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion" (December 21, 2020).
This RFI solicits industry input to inform that assessment. It is technology-inclusive — no specific design or technology solution is presumed.
What This RFI Is Asking For
The goal is to identify constraints, not collect capability statements.
Responses should focus on what is hard, what is missing, what is at risk, and what government actions would help. Respondents should address only the areas relevant to their expertise.
Scope
The assessment covers the nuclear power unit — from the reactor core through the power conversion system (PCS). It excludes the spacecraft bus, avionics, launch vehicle, and other mission-level systems.
Topical Area
Examples
Nuclear fuel - Enrichment, fabrication, fuel forms
Design capability - Workforce, nuclear data, material performance data, modeling & simulation tools
Non-fuel core components - Radiation shielding, Coolant, heat transfer mechanisms, reflectors, moderators, structural components
Instrumentation & control - Radiation hardened components supporting space reactor relevant temperatures, control systems and software
Power conversion systems - Stirling, Closed Brayton Cycle, Other
Infrastructure capabilities - Ground test facilities, irradiation facilities, integrated vehicle testing, launch safety qualification facilities, safeguards (e.g. if HEU)
Parameter envelope for this assessment
This assessment is technology-inclusive; respondents should therefore describe their capability against the parameter bands below rather than against any specific design, and identify which bands their product or capability can serve. Respondents whose offerings are parameter-agnostic (for example, workforce services or cross-cutting modeling tools) may note that and skip.
Questions
Q1 — What do you make?
List the products, components, or materials your organization produces or develops for space nuclear reactor applications. For each, state:
Q2 — What are your biggest production constraints?
Describe the challenges to producing your product(s) at the rate and quality required for a campaign of up to four units in five years. Address whichever of the following are relevant:
If your organization spans multiple product lines, address each separately.
Q3 — What can't be fixed with money alone?
For your longest-lead items, identify the constraints that additional funding cannot resolve on its own — for example, regulatory timelines, facility construction, workforce development, or irreducible process durations.
For each constraint, explain:
Q4 — Where are your sole-source or foreign-source dependencies?
Identify any critical input that is:
For each, provide: the item, the supplier or country of origin, and the production risk if that source is disrupted. Additionally, if you believe you are the sole or primary U.S. supplier of any product or capability relevant to space reactor production, identify it.
Q5 — Are you a unique U.S. source?
Are you the sole or primary U.S. supplier of any product or capability relevant to space reactor production? If so, identify it.
Q6 — What actions are needed, and who should take them?
For each challenge identified above, recommend a specific action. Structure your response by timeframe:
Near Term (Next 12 months)
Longer Term (Years 1–5)
Q7 — Anything else we should know?
Information Protection
Individual responses will be kept confidential. Specifically:
This assessment is conducted by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on behalf of the Department of Energy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors. Because INL also develops space reactor technology, analytical independence is maintained: individual company responses are not shared with INL reactor development programs, and the assessment team operates under DOE direction.
How to Respond
Submit responses by email no later than May 5, 2026.
Submissions: chase.egbert@inl.gov
Questions: Sebastian Corbisiero, National Technical Director, DOE Space Reactor Program — sebastian.corbisiero@inl.gov
Respondents are encouraged to submit candid assessments, including commercially sensitive information where relevant. Any proprietary information must be clearly marked as such.
Disclaimers
This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only. It is not a solicitation for proposals. Per FAR 15.201(e), responses are not offers and cannot form a binding contract. Submission is voluntary and does not affect eligibility for any subsequent solicitation. Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) will not reimburse response preparation costs, is not obligated to acknowledge submissions, and may share responses with government personnel and FFRDCs and Government support contractors.
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
BATTELLE ENERGY ALLIANCE–DOE CNTR
BATTELLE ENERGY ALLIANCE–DOE CNTR
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Idaho Falls, ID, 83415