Tennessee Valley Authority, Ontario Power Generation, Synthos Green Energy, and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy are teaming up to advance the global deployment of a small modular reactor, they announced on March 23.
Through a technical collaboration agreement that was announced in Washington, D.C., TVA, OPG and SGE will invest in the development of the GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy BWRX-300 standard design and detailed design for key components, including reactor pressure vessel and internals.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is committed to standard design development and anticipates a total investment of around $400 million associated with the development.
Each contributor has agreed to fund a portion of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s overall cost and collectively will form a design center working group with the purpose of ensuring the standard design is deployable in multiple jurisdictions.
The long-term goal is for the BWRX-300 design to be licensed and deployed in Canada, the U.S., Poland and beyond.
Site preparation is now underway for a BWRX-300 at OPG’s Darlington New Nuclear Project site in Clarington, Ontario, with construction expected to be complete by the end of 2028. This will be the first grid-scale SMR in North America.
TVA is preparing a construction permit application for a BWRX-300 at the Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee and exploring additional sites in the TVA service area for potential SMR deployments.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., recently visited the Clinch River site that has been designated as the location for a TVA small modular reactor. Lee and Fleischmann were accompanied on the tour by Jeffrey Lyash, CEO of TVA.
ORLEN Synthos Green Energy, a joint venture between SGE and PKN Orlen, and its partners have started the pre-licensing process in Poland by submitting an application to the National Atomic Energy Agency for assessment of the BWRX-300.
ORLEN Synthos Green Energy has initiated a site selection process for its proposed first BWRX-300 and intends to deploy this first unit by the end of this decade with the future potential for a fleet of BWRX-300s. ORLEN Synthos Green Energy has initiated a site selection process for this first unit.
The BWRX-300 is being designed to reduce construction and operating costs below other nuclear power generation technologies. Specifically, the BWRX-300 is being developed to leverage a unique combination of existing fuel, plant simplifications, proven components and a design based on an already licensed reactor.
SMR Project Being Developed by UAMPS Moves Forward
Participants’ governing boards in the Carbon Free Power Project being developed by Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems are moving forward with the development and deployment of a small modular reactor project, UAMPS reported on Feb. 28. With the commitments, the CFPP Project Management Committee approved a new budget and plan of finance.
NPPD Launches SMR Siting Study
Meanwhile, the Nebraska Public Power District is beginning the process of studying sites that could have the potential to host advanced small modular nuclear reactors, it said on Jan. 13.
Under Nebraska legislative bill 1014, the State of Nebraska allocated $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding to complete a siting study for small modular reactors.
