Idaho Women's Business Center to open office in Idaho Falls

The Idaho Women’s Business Center will be opening an office in at the Idaho Innovation Center in Idaho Falls, with a ceremonial kickoff event scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. Due to social distancing, a limited number of attendees will be able to participate live, but anyone interested in participating virtually can do so at www.IdahoWomen.org.

Launched by the U.S. Small Business Administration in July 2019, IWBC's mission is to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic empowerment for women across the state. Since its inception it has intended to have a statewide presence. In addition to the Idaho Falls office, another office will be opening in Moscow. The Idaho Falls office comes as a result of an technology innovation grant from Idaho National Laboratory. "After several meetings with INL, we knew that even though the pandemic has delayed our projections to open, we needed to push forward to be closer to our clients, said Megan Bryant, IWBC Director of Communication & Connections.

Cheryl O’Brien, a former INL senior executive, is the IWBC associate director for eastern Idaho. She brings a variety of experience to the position and her community connectivity to stakeholders locally will enhance IWBC's ability to leverage the existing ecosystem of resources.

Located at 2300 N. Yellowstone, the Idaho Innovation Center is a business incubator providing resources to small, fledgling companies, where entrepreneurs can confidently and aggressively start and grow their small businesses through collaboration, education, mentoring and shared resources. Resources onsite include the IIC, the Idaho Small Business Development Center, the Service Corp of Retired Executives, the Idaho Manufacturing Alliance, the University of Idaho, and Idaho State University.

Local, state and national leaders have been invited to the ceremony Tuesday, including Governor Brad
Little, U.S. Sen. James E. Risch, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper and Ammon Mayor Sean Coletti.

DOE picks two companies for advanced reactor demonstration funding

The Natrium system from TerraPower and GE-Hitachi features a 345-MWe reactor and can be optimized for specific markets. For instance, its thermal storage has the potential to boost the system’s output to 500-MWe of power for more than five and a half hours when needed.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced Tuesday it has selected two U.S.-based teams to receive $160 million in initial funding under the new Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). ARDP, announced in May, is designed to help domestic private industry demonstrate advanced nuclear reactors in the United States.
 
DOE is awarding TerraPower LLC of Bellevue, Wash., and X-energy of Rockville, Md., $80 million each in initial funding to build two advanced nuclear reactors that can be operational within seven years. The awards are cost-shared partnerships with industry that will deliver two first-of-a-kind advanced reactors to be licensed for commercial operations. The department will invest a total of $3.2 billion over seven years, subject to the availability of future appropriations, with industry partners providing matching funds.
 
“The awards are the first step of a new program that will strengthen American leadership in the next generation of nuclear technologies,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. “These partnerships will help maximize DOE’s investment in advanced reactors, which play a vital role in our clean energy strategy.”

As DOE's lead laboratory for nuclear research and home of the National Reactor Innovation Center, Idaho National Laboratory will play a role in the projects' development.

"I congratulate TerraPower’s Natrium reactor and X-energy’s xe100 reactor for receiving the DOE's advanced reactor demonstration pathway awards," said INL Director Mark Peters. "Today marks a tremendous step forward in bringing advanced fission systems from concept to reality."
 
“Congratulations to all the innovators selected for their Advanced Reactor Demonstration Proposals,” said Ashley Finan, director of the National Reactor Innovation Center. “NRIC looks forward to working with each of you to deliver successful outcomes. These projects contribute to a diversity of designs, which will help achieve our commitment to demonstrating advanced reactors.”

GE Hitachi, TerraPower Team on Nuclear-Storage Hybrid SMR (Powermag.com, Sept. 3, 2020)

Specifically, TerraPower will demonstrate the Natrium reactor, a sodium‐cooled fast reactor that leverages decades of development and design undertaken by TerraPower and its partner, GE‐Hitachi. The high-operating temperature of the Natrium reactor, coupled with thermal energy storage, will allow the plant to provide flexible electricity output that complements variable renewable generation such as wind a solar. In addition, this project will establish a new metal fuel fabrication facility that is scaled to meet the needs of this demonstration program.
 
X-energy will deliver a commercial four-unit nuclear power plant based on its Xe-100 reactor design. The Xe-100 is a high temperature gas-cooled reactor that is ideally suited to provide flexible electricity output as well as process heat for a wide range of industrial heat applications, such as desalination and hydrogen production. The project will also deliver a commercial scale TRi-structural ISOtropic particle fuel (TRISO) fuel fabrication facility, leveraging DOE’s substantial investment in development of this highly robust fuel form.

The Xe-100 high temperature gas-cooled pebble bed modular nuclear power plant has a small physical footprint, only 200 meters by 100 meters with a small emergency planning zone, and a reduced water requirement which means it can be installed in a much wider range of potential locations compared to other clean energy solutions.

Both projects incorporate a range of design features that will not only enhance safety, but make them affordable to construct and operate, paving the way for the United States to deploy highly competitive advanced reactors domestically and globally.
 
“DOE and U.S. industry are extremely well-equipped to develop and demonstrate nuclear reactors with the requisite sense of urgency, which is important not only to our economy, but to our environment, because nuclear energy is clean energy,” said Dr. Rita Baranwal, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy.

X-Energy Steps Into The Ring With Its Advanced Pebble Bed Modular Nuclear Reactor (Forbes, March 27, 2017)

Congress appropriated $160 million for the Fiscal Year 2020 budget as initial funding for these demonstration projects. Funding beyond the near-term is contingent on additional future appropriations, evaluations of satisfactory progress and DOE approval of continuation applications. In addition, the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriation also provided initial year funding of $30 million for two to five Risk Reduction for Future Demonstrations projects and $20 million initial year funding for at least two Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 (ARC-20) projects. Awards for these projects are expected to be announced in December 2020. 
 
More information on the Office of Nuclear Energy and its programs can be found here.

Abracadabra's owner plans French restaurant for old Cellar location

At left is the property at 3520 East 17th as it appeared in the early 20th century, and at right, the building as it appears today.

For years it was The Cellar and regarded as one of the more upscale places to eat in the Idaho Falls/Ammon area. For a brief stint this year it was Rustic Vine, specializing in Mediterranean cuisine. And now, the property at 3520 East 17th Street is being refashioned into Cast Iron, with an opening set for November.

East Idaho News reports that co-owner Josh Swain plans to open sometime around Thanksgiving. “It’s going to be French cuisine with a rotating menu,” he said. “There’ll be a staple of six or seven items, but we’re going to have daily specials. It’s peasant food reinvented for (modern) times.”

Swain owns Abracadabra’s in Idaho Falls, Pocatello and Twin Falls, and is the former owner of Stockman’s Restaurant. He said he and his partners felt inspired to purchase the property last month when Rustic Vine, the previous occupant, closed after six months of operation.

“I didn’t want to open another restaurant, but I’ve always been in love with this place,” he said. “I think I have a concept that’s going to make people fall in love with it the way that I did.”

He said it will be a standalone location and that his goal is to open without fanfare this November. “We’re just going to turn the lights on and say, ‘We’re open,'” he said.

Wind River Construction is doing the remodeling, and Launie.com is a consultant on the project.

Idaho National Laboratory plays key role in 'green hydrogen' research

Dr. Dong Ding (right) and his GEM fellow student, Joshua Gomez (left) examine a lab-made solid oxide electrolysis cell, which will be used for hydrogen production through high temperature steam electrolysis.

Idaho National Laboratory is a member of two new Department of Energy research consortia charged with exploring new methods and technologies for hydrogen production. Hydrogen can effectively store excess electricity, which can be harvested later via fuel cells. These consortia – H2NEW and HydroGEN 2.0 – were formed to discover how “green” hydrogen can be produced more efficiently and less expensively.

“DOE has a strong interest in hydrogen generation,” said INL researcher Gary Groenewold, who is leading the lab’s involvement in the H2NEW consortium. “They’ve got technology they feel can be pushed from mid-range research to the pilot plant level.”

INL and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will co-lead H2NEW, which will advance state-of-the-art hydrogen production using low temperature electrolysis and high temperature electrolysis. The program will conduct research, development and demonstration of large-scale, affordable electrolyzers — devices that use electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The end goal is to be able to produce hydrogen at a generalized cost of $2 per kilogram. Today, carbon-free hydrogen from electrolysis costs about $5 to $6/kg to make assuming electricity prices of $0.05/kWh to $0.07/kWh.

The second consortium, HydroGEN 2.0, is led by NREL. It will focus more on fundamental science questions by facilitating collaborations between national laboratories, academia and industry. The consortium’s steering committee has representatives from DOE and each of the six member labs. Dr. Richard Boardman is INL’s representative.

Both consortia are funded by DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Collectively, these efforts support EERE’s H2@Scale vision for affordable hydrogen production, distribution, storage and utilization across multiple applications.
INL is widely known for its expertise in solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs). For years, INL researchers have experimented with solid oxide electrolysis stacks, splitting water molecules at lower temperatures and reducing stress on SOEC materials. In 2018, INL researcher Dong Ding and his colleagues demonstrated high-performance electrochemical hydrogen production at a lower temperature than seen before. In a paper published by the journal Advanced Science, Ding reported on a highly efficient proton-conducting solid oxide electrolysis cell (P-SOEC) that incorporates a 3D ceramic steam electrode. During testing, the cells operated below 600 degrees Celsius at a highly sustained rate for days.

In 2020, Ding led a team of INL researchers to pioneer a reversible electrochemical cell that efficiently converts excess electricity and water into hydrogen but also, when called for, can convert hydrogen back into electricity for the grid. The hydrogen can be used as fuel for heat, vehicles or other applications. The results appeared in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

“The people in his group are working at a very high level,” Groenewold said.
 

Closings this week in the Greater Idaho Falls area

Here's a rundown of closings this week from SVN High Desert Commercial:

Odyssey Rehabilitation leased 3,645 sf of office space located at 756 Oxford Drive in Idaho Falls. Randy Waters of SVN High Desert Commercial represented the landlord and Shane Murphy of Venture One Properties represented the tenant.

Christensen Insurance agency leased 766 sf of office space located at 1820 E 17th Street in Idaho Falls. Randy Waters of SVN High Desert Commercial represented the landlord and Tina Miller of Assist to Sell represented the tenant.

Boomers Audio leased 3600 sf warehouse in Ucon. Randy Waters represented the landlord and tenant.

Mi Casa Properties LLC purchased a 1,960 sf medical condo at 2065 E 17th street. Randy Waters of SVN High Desert Commercial represented the seller and Jason Grider of Morgan Grider Peterson represented the buyer.

Alphagraphics purchased an additional acre next door to their current location on Bentley Way in  Idaho Falls. Randy Waters of SVN High Desert represented the buyer and seller.

Boam and Associates leased 1,306 sf in the Exchange Plaza. Randy Waters represented the landlord and tenant.

Kone Properties Purchased a 1.313 acre lot in Andersen Business Development slated for a 6,000 sf warehouse. Randy Waters of SVN High Desert Commercial represented the buyer and seller.

Boost Mobile leased 1,200 sf located at 563 South Woodruff. Randy Waters of SVN High Desert Commercial represented the landlord and tenant.