"X-energy's advances may sweep away those concerns--and costs. The company is commercializing next-gen nuclear. It makes fuel by wrapping specks of uranium in layers of carbon and ceramic, and then encasing those bits in graphite balls, which flow through its Xe-100 reactor like gumballs through a dispenser. When a neutron hits the uranium inside a fuel pebble, the shell keeps the neutron from moving too quickly, which makes for a safe chain reaction. The fuel ball never gets hot enough to melt, and it contains the fission products. All of the nuclear waste from X-energy reactions ends up encased in the graphite orbs."
