US, Canada and Poland to collaborate in a SMR project for the first time
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Synthos Green Energy (SGE) have agreed to work together to advance the global deployment of the GEH BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR).
The CEOs of the companies signed a technical collaboration agreement at an event in Washington DC, attended by representatives of the governments of all three countries. TVA, OPG and SGE will invest in the development of the BWRX-300 standard design and detailed design for key components, including reactor pressure vessel and internals. Each contributor has agreed to fund a portion of the overall cost of development of a standard design, which GEH anticipates will require a total investment of around USD400 million.
The collaborators will form a Design Center Working Group with the purpose of ensuring the standard design is deployable in multiple jurisdictions, with a long-term goal for the BWRX-300 design to be licensed and deployed in Canada, the USA, Poland and beyond.
Four companies from Poland, Canada and the U.S. will work together on the design and deployment of the BWRX-300 small modular reactor design
OPG has begun site preparation at the Darlington New Nuclear Project site in Ontario for a BWRX-300 plant which 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 ORLEN Synthos Green Energy (OSGE), a joint venture between SGE and PKN Orlen, has started the pre-licensing process in Poland for the reactor as well as beginning a site selection process for its first unit.
TVA CEO Jeff Lyash stressed the importance of this agreement, and added that by working together they are "taking international steps to advance new nuclear in the US and around the world".
With this agreement, the members are taking international steps to advance new nuclear in the US and around the world
This collaboration has great benefits for all three countries. OPG CEO Ken Hartwick said that nuclear power "will play a key role in meeting increasing clean electricity needs in Ontario and beyond, which is why OPG is constructing North America's first grid-scale SMR". Rafal Kaspów, CEO of SGE, added that GEH's modular technology is "simply ideal" for decarbonising energy and heat production in Poland.
The new SMR construction will help to meet the increasing clean electricity needs in Canada and decarbonise energy and heat production in Poland
"This partnership is precisely what will result in commercial lift-off for small modular reactors which DOE is really excited about as a technology," said Kathryn Huff, US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the US Department of Energy. She added that these companies "know how to deploy real technology".
Source: World Nuclear News
