Reposted from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.

Microreactors are quickly shifting from sci-fi-adjacent prototypes to one of the most promising tools in America’s clean-energy toolkit. Roughly the size of a shipping container, these next-gen nuclear systems can deliver reliable power to remote communities, military bases, disaster zones or industrial sites—without the massive infrastructure required by traditional nuclear plants.

But there’s one major challenge that needs to be solved before the full extent of this potential can be unlocked: How do you safely move a nuclear reactor down a highway?

It’s a question the nation is racing to answer. Microreactors offer extraordinary opportunities—portable clean energy, rapid deployment and resilient power—but they also demand new approaches to safety, monitoring and transportation. Ensuring the public, regulators and industry have full confidence in this technology means rethinking how engineers track and validate reactor conditions in real time.

That’s where researchers at the University of Utah are making headway.

U team wins ARPA-I Ideas and Innovation Challenge Stage 1

A U team from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering has been named among the Stage 1 winners of the ARPA-I Ideas and Innovation Challenge, a national competition pushing forward transformative transportation technologies.

The U’s winning project, “Energy in Motion: Atoms on Wheels – Safe, Monitored Transportation of Microreactors,” unites an interdisciplinary group led by assistant professor Vince Wang, professor Cathy Liu and Ted Goodell, director of the U’s nuclear reactor facility.

This project represents a rare fusion of transportation engineering expertise and nuclear engineering innovation—showcasing the full strength of the CvEEN Department, which includes the Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP).

A first-of-its-kind digital twin for nuclear transport

As microreactors move from design labs to highways, the team is developing the nation’s first digital twin built specifically for transporting microreactors by semi-truck. This virtual model integrates real-time sensing, predictive analytics and secure data flows to enhance public safety and bolster regulatory trust.

The digital twin will track:

• Radiation and shielding performance
• Vessel and environmental temperature
• Weather and road conditions
• Potential hazardous conditions

Instead of relying on static, offline estimates, trainees and operators will be able to access live, interactive and actionable data during training or transport—while sensitive commercial information remains protected through NDAs and university legal mechanisms.

Over the course of a two-phase development plan—which in sum will occur over three years and $320K in funding—key metrics will include reduced operator training time, improved safety insights for drivers and enhanced monitoring capacity during transport.

By enabling safe, monitored and scalable microreactor transportation, the project supports U.S. clean-energy goals and advances an emerging nuclear-technology sector.

The team will travel to Washington, D.C., to deliver its Phase 2 pitch.