Yellowstone Energy, a Knoxville company, has received a grant totaling nearly $2.6 million to study research in advanced nuclear reactors.

The organization is the first in the area to receive a grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) on a project unaffiliated with either Oak Ridge National Laboratory or the University of Tennessee.

Yellowstone Energy is trying to develop a new reactor control technology to enhance safety and reduce costs for its advanced nuclear reactor designs, including one for a molten salt reactor.

More:How using molten salt to cool nuclear reactors is gaining momentum in the Southeast

Materials embedded in the reactor's control rods will vaporize at elevated temperatures, producing a vapor that can capture neutrons and slow down the reaction without external controls.

Yellowstone Energy is testing the control device's effectiveness and its cost-effectiveness.

The project was one of 10 announced by the Department of Energy to receive funding to research advanced nuclear reactor power plants.

Hole in the national grid?

Advanced and small nuclear reactors are gaining momentum as existing light water reactors near the end of their lives. Most, if not all, are expected to retire by the 2050s. With nearly 20 percent of U.S. electricity coming from nuclear reactors, it could leave a gaping hole in the national grid.

Existing nuclear power plants face comparatively high operational and maintenance costs. Small and advanced reactors are expected to cost less than the nation's current fleet of light water reactors and operate more safely.

More:Trump administration instructed illegal withholding of national lab research funds, GAO finds

“Nuclear energy is an essential component of the U.S. energy mix, and by teaming up with the private sector to reduce costs and improve safety, we are keeping America ahead of the curve in advanced reactor design and technology,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

“These next-generation ARPA‑E technologies help us maintain our competitive, technological edge globally while improving the resilience of the grid and helping provide reliable, baseload electricity to each and every American.”

More:Senate energy bill includes more than $3 billion for Oak Ridge

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It's a total change of tune from the Energy Secretary who has supported President Donald Trump's proposals to cut or eliminate funding for ARPA-E since he took office.

A Government Accountability Office report from last year found the Trump administration instructed the illegal withholding of $91 million in apportioned research funds from ARPA-E in Fiscal Year 2017.

It's been the efforts of the Senate, thus far, that have saved the program.

Yellowstone Energy's brings the local total for ARPA-E projects to about a dozen. Oak Ridge and the University of Tennessee have received millions from ARPA-E for high risk, high reward science projects since the agency's inception.