Hadron Energy Inc (NASDAQ:HDRN) said it has chosen GSE Solutions to design and develop a training simulator tailored to its Halo Micro-Modular Reactor. The announcement formalizes the companies' collaboration, elevating their prior memorandum of understanding to a strategic alliance and marking progress toward meeting regulatory training requirements tied to commercial operation.
The contract positions GSE to lead both the development and commissioning of a plant-specific simulator that will reproduce the full spectrum of Halo MMR operating behavior. That range explicitly includes routine operations, anticipated operational occurrences, design-basis events, and beyond-design-basis scenarios. Hadron described the simulator as the primary training platform for reactor operators, senior reactor operators, shift technical advisors, and engineering staff.
Regulatory compliance is central to the effort. Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules cited in 10 CFR Part 55, candidates for reactor operator and senior reactor operator positions must undergo structured training and successfully complete written, operational, and simulator-based examinations using a simulator that accurately represents the facility they will operate. Hadron and GSE note that a functioning training simulator is a prerequisite for authorization to produce commercial electricity from the reactor.
GSE Solutions and its predecessor companies bring an established track record in nuclear training simulation. According to the companies' history, they have delivered simulators since 1971 with an installed base covering a variety of reactor technologies, including pressurized water reactors, boiling water reactors, CANDU units, VVER designs, and programs for small modular and advanced reactors.
The selection of GSE follows Hadron Energy's recent partnership with Paragon Energy Solutions, a Mirion Technologies Company, concerning the instrumentation and control architecture for the Halo MMR. Hadron emphasized that developing the simulator in parallel with the plant architecture will allow the company to begin operator training ahead of fuel load, aligning training timelines with plant readiness.
Context and next steps
The agreement assigns GSE responsibility for delivering a simulator that mirrors plant-specific characteristics and supports the range of scenarios regulators require for operator qualification. Moving from a memorandum of understanding to a strategic alliance signals a deeper, more operational collaboration intended to meet regulatory milestones before commercial electricity generation can proceed.