SMR News: GE Hitachi Nuclear adds Worley Chemetics to BWRX-300 Supplier Group
Several small modular reactor (SMR) startups are moving forward, but also established nuclear technology firms such as GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Westinghouse are working to develop the next generation of smaller and supposedly safer and less expensive units. These could be used in future nuclear microgrids, among other applications.
GE Vernova, the energy wing of General Electric which was spun off into a separate company in the last year, has joined its GE Hitachi joint venture to form a supplier group for the latter’s BWRX-300 SMR reactor design.
On Thursday, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy added a new supplier to that group. Canada-based Worley Chemetics was selected to design and fabricate the isolation condenser system for the BWRX-300.
“The isolation condenser system is a key passive safety feature of the BWRX-300 design and we look forward to collaborating with Worley Chemetics on a manufacturing design that will deliver outstanding safety, quality and performance,” said Sean Sexstone, Executive Vice President, Advanced Nuclear, GEH, in a statement. “This collaboration aims to strengthen Ontario’s nuclear supply chain and bring economic benefits to the region.”
The Worley Chemetics fabrication facility is in Pickering, Ontario. GE Vernova’s plan for the BWRX-300 SMR involves extensive manufacturing work in Canada, with power utility Ontario Power Generation (OPG), GE Hitachi, engineering firm AtkinsRéalis and Aecon Construction Group collaborating to build the reactor at OPG’s Darlington nuclear power station site.
Construction on the BWRX-300 is expected to begin next year, as early site preparation work is already completed. The partnership hopes to put the BWRX-300 into operation by the end of 2029.
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Prospects for a Small, Modular and Reactive Future
Nuclear fission reactors can operate at a high capacity factor (how often the unit is generating at peak performance) and do not release greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S., nuclear power plants generate close to 19% of total utility-scale electricity and close to half of the carbon-free power produced nationwide.
GE Vernova and GE Hitachi Nuclear hope to build a total of four 300-MW reactor units for the OPG Darlington site.
The proposed BWRX-300 design is a smaller boiling water reactor version of GE Hitachi nuclear technology. Other power producers either contracting for or expressing interest in utilizing the BWRX-300 of the future include Saskatchewan Power Corp. in Canada and power generators in Poland, among others.
Other SMR designers working toward eventual commercial operation include X-energy, which signed an earlier deal with Dow Chemical, and Kairos Power which has signed an agreement with Google.
The global SMR market project pipeline has grown to 22 GW, according to a recent report from researchers at Wood Mackenzie. Completing that project pipeline, the researchers noted, could require investment of close to US$176 billion and correcting shortages in uranium supply.
The expansive growth of artificial intelligence models, which require a larger amount of energy than most computations, is pushing data center load growth that likely will outstrip the utility sector’s conventional power capacity soon. Recently, Microsoft signed a power purchase deal with Constellation Energy that will invest in reopening Three Mile Island Unit 1 as the Crane Energy Center by 2028, according to reports.
