- Reactors to Go Deep Underground to Power Data Centers
- South Korea’s KHNP & Westinghouse Bury the Hatchet
- DOE Offers $13 Million to Pay Advanced Reactor NRC Licensing Fees
- NRC Chair Pledges Less Bureaucracy, More Results
- Lawsuit Seeks to Overturn NRC Rules on SMRs
- Poland’s Cabinet Approves $14 Billion For Nuclear Power
- Poland’s Orlen Announces Plans For 600 MW From SMRs
- Westinghouse Awarded NASA-DOE Contract for Space Microreactor
Reactors to Go Deep Underground to Power Data Centers
Deep Fission Inc., a nuclear energy company, plans to place SMRs in boreholes a mile deep and send the power back to the surface to provide electricity to data centers. The firm announced a strategic partnership with Endeavour Energy, LLC, which plans to build data centers that will support multiple gigawatts of of power to run artificial intelligence applications.
As part of the agreement, Endeavour and Deep Fission have committed to co-develop 2 GW of nuclear energy to power Endeavour’s expanding global portfolio of Edged data centers. The firms claimed, without backing it up with details, that the first reactors expect to be operational in 2029. Given the use of the word “global,” it raises the question of whether some of the plans for siting these projects might be outside the US in addition to any domestic US projects.
In addition, regarding the question of where Deep Fission plans to dig, it didn’t identify who’s SMRS it would use for the project nor indicate any other details about the types reactors it plans to use for the data center project.
Only one SMR in the US is licensed by the NRC which is NuScale’s 50 MW SMR based on LWR design principles. All the other LWR type and advanced reactors under development in the USare in the process of submitting topical reports without firm dates for submitting their license applications. The exception is TerraPower which submitted a Part 50 construction license application for its 345 MW advanced sodium cooled design in March 2024. It isn’t a candidate for a deep borehole due to its size.
Typically, SMRs come in sizes of of 300 MW or less. To get 2 GW of power from SMRs in boreholes would require at least seven 300 MW SMRs. Light water type SMRs may not be good candidates for a deep underground operation given their needs for copious amounts of cooling water that would not be available at a depth of 5,280 feet below the surface.
Also, taking into account the 18-24 month fuel outage cycles for LWRs, it seems plausible Deep Fission will consider advanced SMR reactors with very long fuel cycles measured in five-to-ten year cyclesFor instance, Oklo’s reported design of a 15 MW microreactor has that time frame for its fuel cycle as one of its features. It also has the power rating sought by Deep Fission.
Deep Fission says on its website it plans to place 15 MW microreactors in the boreholes. It plans to build and install a fleet of 100 0f them to generate the power required by Endeavour Energy realizing 1.5GW of power overall. According to the diagram on the website, it appears that each 15 MW microreactor gets its own borehole. It adds that all 100 boreholes will require a surface area of about three square acres.
Regardless of the chosen reactor design that’s still a lot of hardware to push into a hole a mile deep in the ground which means the freight elevator will be a major undertaking all on its own. Plus, it would make for one heck of a commute for the maintenance staff that might have to work on the reactor while it is operating in the hole. Given the limits on space, using Deep Fission’s design concept, it is likely the control room and operations staff would manage the reactor remotely from the surface. The firm says it has a plan to deal with this approach. More details on it follow below.
Separately, there the issue of geothermal heat from the earth’s crust. According to the University of Arizona, the temperature in a borehole one mile deep in the Texas Panhandle is about 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Ventilation cooling outside the reactor and for the surrounding workspace, and in the borehole itself, would will be major cost items for these projects.
The firm hasn’t as yet specified a plan for handling spent fuel. One option is to just to drill into the nearby rock, back fill the hole with the spent fuel and seal it up making it irretrievable in terms of proliferation risk.. This was the original plan in the late 1970s for the salt caverns at the WIPP site in New Mexico when it was a candidate for commercial reactor spent fuel and high level waste from military nuclear operations. WIPP isn’t a borehole and uses time tested hard rock mining methods to place radioactive waste in the deep underground salt cavern.
Another thought is that once all the stuff associated with the reactor goes down the hole, not much of it is ever likely to see the light of day again. However, all is not lost. Deep Fission describes on its website the use of “lifting cables” that would lower and retrieve the entire 15 MW reactors, as needed, from each mile deep borehole.
Lifting capacity of crane to bring the reactor to the surface would need to include the weight of the mile long cables plus the reactor module. All the connections to the reactor at the bottom of the borehole, e.g. instruments and controls, steam system, etc. would need remote methods to connect / disconnect based on installation and retrieval of the core.
Bear in mind this dimension means Deep Fission’s reactor vendor will have to cram 15 MW of nuclear reactor generating equipment into a tube that is just 30 inches wide. For comparative purposes that’s about the same width as a tire on a mid-size pickup truck.
Construction activities on the surface would require space and the switch yard for the grid connection would also need surface acreage. Another set of questions is where the project would place its steam system, turbines, and generators? Heat rises and Deep Fission indicates in a diagram on its website it plans to depend on it pushing the heat from the reactor to the surface to run the steam system, turbine, and generator on the surface.
Neutron Bytes asked Google’s Gemini AI system what is the volume of material in tons of a borehole one mile deep with a diameter of one foot. This smaller number is just for comparison purposes only relative to Deep Fission’s plan for a hole with a width of 30 inches.
The answers for the one foot hole is that the material coming out of it would be about 2,100 cubic feet of rock having an average density of 165 pounds per square foot which will weigh in at approximately 171 tons.
To put the one foot wide borehole number in perspective, Google’s Gemini helpfully noted that African elephants weigh about 14,000 pounds (7 tons) which makes the material coming out of the hole one foot in diameter drilled a mile deep equal in weight if not in space equal to 24 elephants.
Image: San Diego Zoo
The actual borehole, as described by Deep Fission, will be much bigger and there could be as many as 100 of them. The developers surely will need the wide open spaces of the American west for projects at this scale.
I leave it to the civil engineers among readers to calculate the amount of hard rock material that would come out of 100 boreholes each 30 inches wide and one mile deep and to suggest options as to where would be a good place to put it. Another homework assignment is to calculate the cost of drilling the hole for each reactor.
Given the ferocity of anti-nuclear fervor in Texas and New Mexico that have shown up for even interim storage of spent fuel, which is intended to be retrieved for either reprocessing or geological disposal, siting boreholes with operating nuclear reactors would likely generate similar levels of political agitation.
How the NRC would license a reactor to be placed in a mile deep hole is anybody’s guess. One thing is for sure, the NRC public hearings won’t be boring.
Deep Fission didn’t mention these factors in its brief press statement but it did say “the firm’s approach leverages the natural geological advantages of deep borehole placement – robust containment and constant pressure – making the reactor inherently safe.”
The data center company partnering with Deep Fission announced it is thrilled with the prospects of getting power from deeply buried nuclear reactors.
“We are constantly searching for technologies capable of supporting the unprecedented demands of AI and meeting green energy goals, but they have to be economically viable,” said Jakob Carnemark, Founder of Endeavour Energy and Edged Data Centers. Deep Fission’s solution slashes the high costs and long timelines of surface-built nuclear projects.”
Deep Fission closed its $4 million pre-seed funding round on August 22, 2024 by venture capital firm 8Vc and other unlisted investors.
Edged is a subsidiary of Endeavour with nearly a dozen new data centers operating or under construction across Europe and North America and a gigawatt-scale project pipeline. The firm is privately held.
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South Korea’s KHNP & Westinghouse Bury the Hatchet
(NucNet) Two sides appear in a long standing dispute over allegation of patent infringement regarding nuclear reactor design information are reported to have buried the hatchet. The Korea Times reported that Westinghouse “is expected to end its two years of dispute with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) over the US firm’s intellectual property rights.”
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a joint press release with the US, “The latest agreement is based on confidence in each other as comprehensive strategic partners, so it is expected to contribute to promoting reciprocal cooperation between the two countries in the global market.”
This statement is in reference to relations between South Korea and the US, and not between KHNP and Westinghouse. Yet, South Korean press coverage of the MOU indicates that the end to the contentious dispute with Westinghouse over intellectual property is in sight. Why the Biden administration waited until the end of its term in office to weigh in on the issue is unknown.
If things works out as planned it will clear the path for KHNP to execute a deal said to be worth about $16 billion to build nuclear reactors in the Czech Republic. In August 2024, South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) was selected by the Czech government as its preferred bidder to build new nuclear power units at the Dukovany site in the Czech Republic.
Background on the Deal
KHNP’s APR1000 reactor technology is based on original technology from Westinghouse, a US company. This means any export deal involving South Korean nuclear reactors needs US approval.
The new export agreement signed last week by South Korea’s industry minister Ahn Duk-geun and US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm covers safety, security, and nonproliferation policies.
The Czech government welcomed the stronger ties between South Korea and the US in the nuclear energy industry.
“We view this step positively, especially with regard to the Czech project for new nuclear sources in Dukovany,” Czech industry minister Lukas Vlcek said in an online statement.
US Energy Secretary Granholm said in her statement, “Today, the United States and Republic of Korea reaffirmed our shared commitment to advancing peaceful nuclear energy. Together, we’re enhancing energy security, tackling the climate crisis, and ensuring a safer world.”
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DOE Offers $13 Million to Pay Advanced Reactor NRC Licensing Fees
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $13 million is available to industry through a new Advanced Nuclear Energy Licensing Cost-Shared Grant Program. The competitive funding opportunity will help to defray the cost of licensing fees for first movers attempting to bring advanced reactors to market.
DOE is offering funding to support both earlier stage activities, such as review of white papers and topical reports prior to a formal license application being submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), as well as review activities that occur after a formal license application has been docketed by the NRC. These activities could include NRC safety and security review and environmental review, among other activities.
“As demand for clean, reliable energy continues to grow, we need to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies, ” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Dr. Michael Goff.
“This program will increase regulatory certainty by joining together public and private funds to expedite the deployment and commercialization of both light-water and non-light water advanced reactor designs.”
Applications are due on April 8, 2025, by 5:00 p.m. ET. DOE anticipates announcing awardees later in 2025. Subject to appropriations, the funding opportunity will be open for a period of five years with up to $50 million available.
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NRC Chair Pledges Less Bureaucracy, More Results
In the interview Hanson said he’s met with banking executives to convince them that the prolonged slogs of years of regulatory red tape in licensing new reactors is no longer going to be a critical bottleneck on reactor approvals. Hanson also took a swipe at critics of his agency’s detailed scrutiny of reactor proposals.
“Regulatory risk is overpriced in the market,” he said. “I won’t say it’s zero, but i want that risk to be appropriately priced.”
In a nod to the role of nuclear energy in dealing with climate change, Hanson told Bloomberg, “The need for energy, and interest in nuclear power, is rising. We know this agency needs to step up and meet this moment in a serious way.”
The Bloomberg report noted, by way of background, the drive to streamline the NRC’s licensing process comes as US power demand is climbing. The battle to rein in climate change is spurring a broad shift away from fossil fuels in factories and homes. At the same time, technology companies are building data centers that consume enormous amounts of electricity. Nuclear has the opportunity to address that demand, but only if the industry can build more reactors.
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Lawsuit Seeks to Overturn NRC Rules on SMRs
(WNN) The States of Texas and Utah and microreactor developer Last Energy Inc are challenging the US regulator over its application of a rule it adopted in 1956 to small modular reactors and research and test reactors.
Under the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Utilization Facility Rule, all US reactors are required to obtain NRC construction and operating licenses regardless of their size, the amount of nuclear material they use or the risks associated with their operation.
The plaintiffs say this imposes “complicated, costly, and time-intensive requirements that even the smallest and safest SMRs and microreactors – down to those not strong enough to power an LED lightbulb” must satisfy to secure the necessary licenses. This does not only affect microreactors: existing research and test reactors such as those at the universities in both Texas and Utah face “significant costs” to maintain their NRC operating licenses.
In the filing, Last Energy – developer of the PWR-20 microreactor – says it has invested “tens of millions of dollars” in developing small nuclear reactor technology, including $2 million on manufacturing efforts in Texas alone, and has agreements to develop more than 50 nuclear reactor facilities across Europe. But although it has a “preference” to build in the USA, “Last Energy nonetheless has concluded it is only feasible to develop its projects abroad in order to access alternative regulatory frameworks that incorporate a de minimis standard for nuclear power permitting.”
In other forums the NRC has noted it is already addressing the issue. In 2023 it began the Part 53 rulemaking process to establish an optional technology-inclusive regulatory framework for new commercial advanced nuclear reactors, which would include risk-informed and performance-based methods “flexible and practicable for application to a variety of advanced reactor technologies.”
NRC has said it expects to issue a final rule “no later than the end of 2027.”
“SECY-23-0021: Proposed Rule: Risk-Informed, Technology-Inclusive Regulatory Framework for Advanced Reactors” is currently open for public comment until February 28th. Federal Register text
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Poland’s Cabinet Approves $14 Billion For Nuclear Power
- Warsaw says decision is key investment step in project to build three Westinghouse reactors. The government has chosen Westinghouse to supply its AP1000 reactor technology for a three-unit nuclear station in the province of Pomerania.
(NucNet) After years of blowing hot and cold on financing its ambitious plans for nuclear power, the Polish cabinet has approved a draft bill that will allow the state to provide $14.5 billion of funding for the deployment of the country’s first nuclear power station. The funding is intended to cover 30% of state-owned project company Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe’s (PEJ) capitalization, with the remaining 70% portion to be sourced from foreign borrowing.
Assuming the $14.5 billion is 30% of the total cost of the three reactors completed by the end of the 2030s decade, then the total cost of the project is in $47 billion. The 70% share that Poland hopes to raise from foreign borrowing would then be about $33 billion.
The bill proposes capital injections in the form of treasury bond or cash for PEJ between 2025 and 2030. These funding decisions will require continued commitments over time to the project by the government.
The government said external financing will be sought after the equity contribution is made by the state treasury. The government said it has been negotiating financial support from export credit agencies, including the US, with several letters of intent announced over the past year.
In 2022, Warsaw chose US-based Westinghouse to supply its AP1000 pressurized water reactor technology for a three-unit nuclear station near the villages of Lubiatowo and Kopalino on its northern Baltic Sea coast in the province of Pomerania. In late 2023, Westinghouse and US-partner Bechtel jointly form a US consortium that will implement the nuclear project.
Construction of the first unit is expected to start in 2028, with an in-service date earmarked for 2036 at the earliest. Timing of completion of the 2nd and 3rd units will depend on whether the 1st unit is completed on schedule and without cost overruns that could impact funding for the other two reactors.
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Poland’s Orlen Announces Plans For 600 MW From SMRs
- Move could secure future of joint venture with Synthos to build GE Hitachi BWRX-300 plants
(NucNet) Poland’s state-controlled energy company Orlen has announced ambitious plans to build 600 MW of nuclear power capacity from small modular reactors (SMRs) by 2035. The move, outlined in an updated energy strategy, could secure the future of a joint venture with private partner Synthos Green Energy which has sought to build GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 SMRs in Poland.
The joint venture, Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE), was established in 2022 between Orlen and Synthos. GE Hitachi and Synthos announced in October 2019 an agreement to collaborate on the potential deployment of BWRX-300s. The projected 600 MW of installed capacity announced by Orlen would mean the construction of at least two 300-MW GE Hitachi SMRs.
“We believe in this technology, we are planning for two reactors,” Ireneusz Fafara, Orlen’s chief executive, said at a press conference.
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Westinghouse Awarded NASA-DOE Contract for Space Microreactor
- NASA and DOE Continue Collaboration with Westinghouse on Fission Surface Power Project
Westinghouse Electric Company announced that NASA, working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), has selected Westinghouse to continue development of a space microreactor design through the Fission Surface Power (FSP) project.
The FSP project is focused on developing concept designs for small, electricity-generating nuclear fission reactors that could provide astronauts a reliable power supply for use on the moon and beyond.
This contract, awarded by Idaho National Laboratory (INL), will build on the successful design work Westinghouse completed during Phase 1 to optimize its contributions to the design of FSP systems and their configuration, and begin testing of critical technology elements. The continued progress under the FSP project can enable NASA’s goal of a lunar demonstration within the next decade.
NASA’s FSP program expands on the efforts of the agency’s Kilopower project to develop affordable fission nuclear power technologies for long-duration stays on planetary surfaces. Currently, NASA is working with DOE to design a fission power system that would provide up to 40 kilowatts of power. A future lunar demonstration will pave the way for sustainable operations and base camps on the Moon and Mars.
Westinghouse said it is leveraging its eVinci microreactor technology to develop a resilient and mass efficient nuclear electric power and propulsion system for satellite, spacecraft and planetary surface power applications. These resilient microreactors have very few moving parts, providing versatility for mission types with the reduction of failure points, simple operation and increased reliability for the harsh environment of space.
Prior coverage on this blog – NASA Plans to Deploy Nuclear Power on Lunar Surface
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