Companies to Team Up For GEH BWRX-300 SMR Global Deployment

As a part of the technical cooperation agreement, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Synthos Green Energy (SGE) will invest in the development of the BWRX-300 standard design and detailed design of essential components such as the reactor vessel and internals. Each participant has agreed to fund a portion of GEH’s total costs and to establish a working group to ensure that the standard design can be deployed in multiple jurisdictions. The long-term goal is for the BWRX-300 design to be licensed and deployed in Canada, the United States, Poland, and other countries.

Site preparation is in progress for the BWRX-300 at OPG’s Darlington New Nuclear Project site in Clarington, Ontario, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2028. TVA is preparing a permit application to build a BWRX-300 at the Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and is examining alternative sites in TVA’s service area for potential SMR deployment.

ORLEN Synthos Green Energy (OSGE), 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 the assessment of the BWRX-300. OSGE initiated the site selection process for the suggested first BWRX-300 and intends to deploy the unit by the end of this decade, with future potential for a fleet of BWRX-300s.

SGE CEO Rafał Kasprów said that for the first time ever, a private Polish company was investing in a design for nuclear power plants: “We do this because GE Hitachi’s state-of-the-art modular technology is simply ideal for decarbonising energy and heat production in Poland, and also for our other zero emission projects in the United Kingdom and throughout Central Europe.”