UK Selects Six SMR Developers for Contract Competition

• UK Selects Six SMR Developers for Contract Competition
• Test Stand Started for Terra Power Molten Chloride Salt Fast Reactor
• NuScale Deal to Energize Data Centers in OH & PA
• Holtec Seeks NRC OK to Re-License Operations at Palisades Power Plant
• NRC Gives OK for VISTRA to Own & Operate Three Energy Harbor Nuclear Plants
• US Funds European Coal-to-SMR projects

UK Selects Six SMR Developers for Contract Competition

(NucNet contributed to this report) The UK government has selected six SMR developers  to bid for government contracts to be awarded later this year with successful companies announced in Spring 2024 and contracts awarded in Summer 2024.

The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the designs selected were “the most able to deliver operational SMRs by the mid-2030s.”

This is the second time the UK government has held a “SMR competition” having significantly delayed the awards for the first one and then paid out a pittance compared to the actual costs of building first-of-a-kind SMR units.

The government did not say in its press statement how much funding it is ready to award to the winning contractor.  Also, the government did not mention the efficiencies and economies of scale that could be obtained by funding the construction of multiple fleets of SMRs rather than one at a time.

The Small Modular Reactor (SMR) competition is part of the government’s plan to revive nuclear power. The government’s ambition is for up to a quarter of all UK electricity to come from nuclear power by 2050. It won’t get there unless and until it gets out of its “one at a time” mindset.

Unlike conventional large nuclear reactors, e.g., 1000 MW or bigger, SMRs are smaller, less than 300 MW, and can be made in factories. With multiple units in  fleet mode they can meet the electrical generation needs of comparable markets and provide resilient grid reliability. Unlike the massive  alternative power requirements that kick in when a 1000 MW reactor has an unscheduled outage, with SMRs when one goes offline the others pick up the slack. Instead of brownouts or blackouts, the lights stay on.

List of the Selected SMRs

The announcement of the firms invited to participate in the SMR competition include EDF, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy International LLC, Holtec Britain Limited, NuScale Power, Rolls Royce SMR and Westinghouse Electric Company UK Limited.

France’s state-owned EDF is developing the Nuward SMR, a 340MW plant with two independent reactors of 170 MW each housed in a single nuclear building.

US-based GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy is planning to deploy its BWRX-300 SMR in Canada and Poland.

Holtec, also US-based, has ambitious plans to build its SMR-160 in the US, the UK Canada, South Korea and Ukraine.

NuScale, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, has signed a number of agreements potential deployment of its Voyger SMR in countries including Poland and Romania. It plans to build a demonstration Voygr plant at the Idaho National Laboratory that is planned to be online in 2029.

Westinghouse launched its AP300 SMR in May of this year.

All six  reactor designs are at various stages of technology maturity and regulatory review. For instance, of the six, two American firms stand out. NuScale and GE-Hitachi has the most mature commercial relationships. EDF and Westinghouse are the newest entries in the UK market.

NuScale has completed its licensing requirements at the NRC in the US. Like the other SMRs, the firm has to complete the Office of Nuclear Regulation’s generic design assessment to be licensed in the UK.  Rolls-Royce, GE-Hitachi, and Holtec kicked off their reviews last January.

None of the contending advanced reactor developers, such as TerraPower, X-Energy, and others, won a seat at the table for the current UK SMR competition. TerraPower said in August it was hoping to build dozens of reactors in the UK with the first units coming online in the 2030s.

The outlook for advanced SMRs, which use HALEU fuel, is cloudy due to uncertainties regarding reliability of supplies of uranium enriched to between 6-19% U235 and the need to complete construction of fuel fabrication capabilities to manufacture fuel elements and assemblies for specific advanced reactor designs.

Where’s the Fleet?

What’s missing from the UK announcement is a funding commitment to build one and possibly two fleets of SMRs to drive down manufacturing and new build costs.

For instance, Rolls-Royce has proposed to build a fleet of 16 of its 470 MW PWRs at multiple locations. The electrical power generated that would be delivered by the completed build out would equal 7,520 MW.

Interestingly, that number significantly exceeds the electrical generation capacity that will not be built with two sets of full size BWRs at the Wylfa (2700 MW) and Oldbury sites (2700 MW). The UK government failed to come to terms with Japan’s Hitachi over costs and rates and these two projects were cancelled.

While Whitehall has committed to building a total of four massive 1650 MW EDF EPRs, two at Hinkley Point C and two more at Sizewell C, it is actively soliciting private investment for Sizewell C having booted Chinese state owned nuclear enterprises from providing a 20% equity stake over “security concerns.”

The government also needs to find a replacement for the electrical generation capacity that was planned to be built at the Bradwell site. At one time, China had a deal with the UK to build one and as many as three of its export leader, the 1000 MW PWR Hualong One, there in return for a one-third equity stake in Hinkley Point C.

With China out of the picture, there is a new opportunity for the UK to commit to build a resilient grid of SMRs at multiple sites across the country to equal the one-to-three gigawatts of power that might have been concentrated at a single location.

From the point of view of the UK government, the time to market of a fleet of SMRs approach spreads the cost out over a 10-15 years span with early units in the first half coming online to generate the revenue to pay for the back end of the entire program.

One Fleet is Not Enough

As a political matter there will be tremendous political pressure to go first with Rolls-Royce as the home town team. The economic benefits of localization of construction jobs and supply chain orders will be enormously attractive to every member of Parliament who wants a piece of the action in their constituencies.

However, one fleet of 16 Rolls-Royce SMRs might not be enough.  In addition to replacing its first generation of nuclear reactors, the UK is also facing a future when the North Sea oil and gas reserves run out.

While the UK government is building four 1650 MW EPRs, it has also indicated it might build two more. An alternative, that produces resilient grids and spreads the costs over a 10-15 year period, would be a second fleet of 300 MW SMRs, or equivalent units. Two new EPRs equals 3300 MW which is basically is a second fleet of 11 300 MW SMRs.

To sum it up, the UK government needs to think big, and long term, and to step back from the immediate competition, which it is running like a defense program bake off for a new fighter jet. Instead, if it thinks about a fleet approach at least two or more tracks, it can have an affordable plan, in terms of cash requirements and a resilient grid in place for all of the units well before 2050.

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Test Stand Started for Terra Power Molten Chloride Salt Fast Reactor

• Southern Company, TerraPower and CORE POWER begin salt operations of Integrated Effects Test

• Milestone signals continued progress in development of first-of-a-kind Molten Chloride Fast Reactor

Southern Company, TerraPower and CORE POWER have successfully started pumped-salt operations in the Integrated Effects Test (IET), signifying a major achievement in the development of Generation-IV molten salt reactor technology, namely TerraPower’s first-of-a-kind Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR).

MCFR Conceptual Design: Image: TerraPower

The IET is a nonnuclear, externally heated, up to 1 MW multiloop system – the world’s largest chloride salt system developed by the nuclear sector. It culminates years of separate effects testing. The IET will inform the design, licensing and operation of an approximately 180-megawatt MCFR demonstration planned for the early 2030s time frame.

Since installation of the IET at TerraPower’s laboratory in Everett, Washington, the project team has completed mechanical, electrical and controls verification and commissioned all systems. Commissioning employed hot argon and chloride salts to confirm readiness, including filling and flushing of drain tanks and verifying operation of freeze valves – a unique and important component for salt systems.

Chloride salt has now been loaded into the primary coolant salt loops and pumped-salt operations have begun. A multi-month test campaign will provide valuable salt operations data and know-how for the MCFR program.

Integrated Effects Test

The project was initiated by Southern Company and TerraPower under the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC-15) award, a multiyear effort to promote the design, construction and operation of Generation-IV nuclear reactors. The project team also includes CORE POWER, EPRI, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Vanderbilt University.

The next generation of nuclear reactors promise the same stable value to customers that is derived from the current operating nuclear fleet, can complement intermittent renewable resources on the grid, and hold the potential to provide zero-carbon, high-grade process heat and thermal storage for energy-intensive industrial markets and ocean transportation sectors that currently rely on fossil fuels.

“The Molten Chloride Fast Reactor has the potential to meet the carbon-free needs of hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors including and beyond electricity. The Integrated Effects Test will help us gather and evaluate data to support the development of our technology, and we are excited to launch pumped-salt operations,” said Jeff Latkowski, senior vice president for the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor.

“Southern Company believes the next generation of nuclear power holds promise in providing an affordable and sustainable net-zero future that includes reliable, resilient and dispatchable clean energy for customers,” said Dr. Mark S. Berry, Southern Company Services senior vice president of research and development.

“The startup of the Integrated Effects Test is a milestone achievement in the development of the first fast-spectrum molten salt reactor, and we are immensely proud to contribute to its success,” said Mikal Bøe, president and CEO of CORE POWER.

“The Integrated Effects Test allows us to collect that crucial last-mile data for a design and build of the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor and takes the team one step closer to a genuinely unique way to do new nuclear that is appropriate for the commercial marine environment.”

• About TerraPower https://terrapower.com
• About CORE POWER https://corepower.energy

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NuScale Deal to Energize Data Centers in OH & PA

• Standard Power Plans to be Operational by 2029

Standard Power, a provider of infrastructure as a service to advanced data processing companies, announced its plans to develop two small modular reactor (SMR) powered facilities that will together produce nearly 2GW of clean, carbon free energy.

It has chosen to work with technology provider NuScale Power Corporation (NuScale) (NYSE: SMR), the only technology provider and producer of SMRs that has obtained U.S. regulatory approval, and ENTRA1 Energy (ENTRA1) an independent global energy development and production company to support Standard Power’s two projects.

In 2022, NuScale formed an exclusive global partnership with ENTRA1 Energy to commercialize the NuScale SMR Technology. Through this partnership, ENTRA1 Energy has the rights to develop, manage, own and operate energy production plants powered by NuScale’s approved SMR technology.

The facilities will be located in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Standard Power aims to use the carbon-free energy to power nearby data centers. As the technology provider, NuScale will provide its NuScale SMR Technology for these projects. NuScale offers a 77 MW SMR. In order to provide 1 GW to each data center, the firm will need to supply at least 12 of of its SMRs to each site.

Based on Standard Power’s plans for the two facilities, NuScale will end up providing 24 units of 77 MWe modules collectively producing 1,848 MWe of clean energy from both the Ohio and Pennsylvania sites. The two projects will represent a significant economic boost for their respective communities.

Standard Power estimates that each proposed SMR-powered data center project will employ a significant number of skilled workers during the construction period with a focus on union labor. Standard Power will leverage its local community partnerships to advance education programs as well as job creation programs focusing on local labor.

“We see a lot of legacy baseload grid capacity going offline with a lack of new sustainable baseload generation options on the market especially as power demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-computing and data centers is growing. We look forward to working with ENTRA1 and NuScale to deploy NuScale’s proven SMR technology to deliver carbon-free, baseload energy to address this large gap in the generation market,” said Maxim Serezhin, Standard Power Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

About Standard Power & ENTRA1

Standard Power is a leading hosting provider for high performance computer companies providing services from early 2019. Standard Power leverages its infrastructure management expertise to develop modular data centers.

ENTRA1 Energy LLC is an American independent global energy production company developing, financing and owning plants, with a diversified portfolio across the production of electricity, hydrogen, process heat and desalinated water.

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Holtec Seeks NRC OK to Re-License Operations at Palisades Power Plant

Holtec announced that the company has submitted a filing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to formally begin the process of seeking federal reauthorization of power operations at the 800 MW Palisades Power Plant in Covert Township, Michigan. This filing follows a series of public meetings with NRC staff to lay out the path to reauthorize the repowering of Palisades within the Agency’s existing regulatory framework.

Palisades has had a record of safe and reliable operation. Prior to shutdown, Palisades operated in the NRC’s highest safety category, completed consecutive record-breaking production runs and was recognized within the industry as a high performing plant.

In early 2023, Holtec applied to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office for federal loan funding to repower Palisades. The company said it is working cooperatively with the Department to move the loan application process forward but the DOE has not yet made a funding decision. The firm declined to comment on the status of its talks with DOE.

On July 31, 2023, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law the State of Michigan’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget, which provides $150 million in funding for the plant’s restart. And on September 12, 2023,

Holtec jointly announced a multi-decades long power purchase agreement (PPA) with Michigan’s not-for-profit rural electric cooperative Wolverine Power Cooperative for the sale of Palisades’s power output.

A revived plant will employ over 600 personnel with a payroll of over 80 million dollars and will help create over 500 million dollars in secondary economic activity in the area. During operation, Palisades paid more than 10 million dollars in property taxes every year to support local schools, law enforcement, fire protection, parks, libraries, and other community resources, making it one of the largest taxpayers in Van Buren County.

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NRC Gives OK for VISTRA to Own & Operate Three Energy Harbor Nuclear Plants

Vistra (NYSE: VST) and Energy Harbor has received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to transfer the operating licenses of Energy Harbor’s three nuclear plants – Beaver Valley, Davis-Besse, and Perry – to Vistra.

Vistra announced in March that it intended to accelerate the growth of its zero-carbon generation portfolio through the $3 billion purchase of Energy Harbor, including its 4,000-megawatt nuclear generation fleet and retail business of ~1 million customers, pending regulatory approvals.

“This is an important step in the acquisition process and is evidence of Vistra’s strong technical and financial qualifications, as we have demonstrated over the past 30+ years with our Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant,” said Jim Burke, Vistra president and CEO.

To complete the acquisition, Vistra needs a decision from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on its request for approval of the transaction. Vistra continues to target closing the transaction before the end of the year.

The transfer covers the following operating reactors:
• Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2 (Shippingport, Pennsylvania)
• Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station (Oak Harbor, Ohio)
• Perry Nuclear Power Plant (Perry, Ohio)

VistraOps currently operates the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant and its spent fuel
storage facilities, which are located in Glen Rose, Texas.

The NRC said in a press statement that its staff review of the license transfer application concluded that VistraOps is financially and technically qualified to conduct the activities authorized by the licenses. The NRC staff also concluded that VistraOps satisfies the NRC’s decommissioning funding assurance requirements, and that the facilities are not owned, controlled, or dominated by a foreign entity.

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US Funds European Coal-to-SMR projects

(WNN) Proposals from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia have been selected to receive US support for coal-to-small modular reactor (SMR) feasibility studies under Project Phoenix. The USA is also to set up a ‘one-stop shop’ to support countries in Europe and Eurasia that are approaching SMR deployment decisions.

Project Phoenix, announced by US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry at the COP27 climate conference last year, aims to support energy security and climate goals by creating pathways for coal-to-SMR power plant conversions while retaining local jobs through workforce retraining. The successful proposals receiving a share of USD8 million of US government support were selected through a competitive process open to 17 central and eastern European countries. Kerry announced the recipients of the awards in a side event to the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Bucharest on September 6th.

The successful grant application include a partnership including;

• Slovak utility Slovenské elektrárne proposed five Slovak sites for consideration SMR feasibility studies:
• Jaslovské Bohunice and Mochovce nuclear power plant sites; the Nováky and Vojany thermal power plant sites; and
• US Steel steel plant in eastern Slovakia.

The feasibility study will assess several aspects and select the most suitable sites for the possible future construction of small modular reactors.

Slovak Minister of Economy Peter Dovhun said the success of Slovakia’s Phoenix application was “excellent news” for the country. “It confirms that we have a lot to offer our partners thanks to our long experience in the nuclear power industry, and it also gives us the opportunity to accelerate the preparation of new projects that are important for the success of our energy transformation,” he said.

Polish company Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) said it will use the funds it has been awarded under the Phoenix project to study a site at Ostroleka. Ostroleka is one of seven locations shortlisted earlier this year by OSGE for further geological surveys to host SMR plants based on GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300, for which it holds the exclusive right in Poland.

Czech coal mining company Sokolovská uhelná, part of the SUAS Group, said it had been selected to receive a grant of $1.5 million, which alongside an applicant’s co-payment of $500K means its study will be worth up to $2 million.

Pavel Tomek, chairman of the supervisory bBoard of Sokolovská uhelná and SUAS Group, said the company is considering the site of the Tisová Power Plant and an industrial complex in Vresová as possible locations for SMRs. The company said its application stated a preference for a pressurised water reactor of 400-500 MWe capacity.

Kerry also launched the Nuclear Expediting the Energy Transition (NEXT) One Stop Shop for SMR Support, to provide countries in Europe and Eurasia that are approaching SMR deployment decisions a virtual center access to a suite of project preparation tools and services.

These may include in-person technical, financial, and regulatory consultancies and advisory services; study tours US nuclear facilities, national laboratories, and universities; competitively selected provision of an SMR simulator to support workforce development as a regional training hub; and university-to-university partnerships for curricula development and educational exchanges.

Project Phoenix and the NEXT One Stop Shop are program of the US Department of State’s Foundational Infrastructure for the Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) Program.

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