TidalCore is a high-temperature gas-cooled microreactor whose primary loop is replaced by an array of liquid-metal heat pipes. The fuel is HALEU TRISO pebbles in a graphite monolith. No primary pumps. No large coolant inventory. No on-site refueling.
Heat leaves the TRISO monolith through twelve sodium heat pipes, crosses a compact intermediate heat exchanger, and forks into two independent loads — a 5 MWe sCO₂ Brayton turbine and an 8 MWth process-heat takeoff feeding green ammonia synthesis.
Sodium-charged stainless heat pipes transport ~15 MWth from the fuel monolith to a compact intermediate heat exchanger. There are no pumps, no valves, no large coolant inventory. Loss-of-flow accidents are physically impossible — each heat pipe is an isolated thermodynamic device.
Tri-structural isotropic particles at 19.75% U-235, embedded in graphite pebbles inside a graphite block. Each particle is its own containment barrier. Qualified to 1600 °C in the DOE AGR-1/2/5 irradiation campaigns — well above any credible accident temperature.
The reactor module is fueled and sealed at a Manufacturing-Licensed facility, then shipped to site under 10 CFR 71 transport packaging. After 12 years of duty the entire cassette is removed and replaced; spent cassettes return to the factory for storage or recycling.
A compact supercritical-CO₂ Brayton loop converts thermal energy to 5.0 MWe at ~38% efficiency in a turbomachine the size of a desk. No steam plant, no large condenser, no Rankine balance-of-plant footprint.
A high-temperature secondary loop diverts up to 8 MWth at 800 °C steam to an adjacent ammonia synthesis loop. This is the lane no competitor occupies — most LWR-class SMRs cannot reach the temperature; most HTGRs do not co-locate with chemistry plants.
Loss of all power and all heat sinks leads to a steady-state core temperature below the TRISO qualification limit by simple radiation and natural convection to the concrete vault. No operator action required for any postulated initiating event.