GE Hitachi Nuclear Power’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor uses proven components.
Courtesy: GE Verona
GE Villenova The company aims to deploy small nuclear reactors in developed countries over the next decade, taking a leadership position in an emerging technology that could play a central role in meeting growing electricity demand and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Nicole Holmes, chief commercial officer of GE Vernova’s nuclear unit GE Hitachi, said the company’s small modular reactor (SMR) is designed to reduce the cost of building new nuclear power plants.
GE Vernova is a spinoff of General Electric’s former energy business. Shares of the company have more than doubled since listing on the New York Stock Exchange in April last year, with investors seeing the Cambridge, Mass.-based company grow in power through a portfolio that spans sectors such as nuclear and natural energy. play a key role in the future of the industry.
The U.S. government wants to triple nuclear power by 2050 to shore up a grid facing increasing pressure from surging electricity demand. But large nuclear projects, at least in the United States, have been plagued by multibillion-dollar budgets, cost overruns, construction delays and sometimes cancellations.
“Affordability has been a real challenge for nuclear energy for many years,” Holmes told CNBC. “We’re starting to address that now.”
simpler design
Holmes said GE Vernova’s SMR BWRX-300 is a simpler design with fewer components and less concrete and steel than larger nuclear power plants. Holmes said the reactor could cost between $2 billion and $4 billion, compared with $10 billion to $15 billion for a large nuclear power plant.
The plant generates 300 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 200,000 U.S. homes. The average U.S. reactor power is about 1,000 megawatts, enough to power more than 700,000 homes. The smaller size allows for more flexibility in terms of location, she said.
“You could put four of these reactors at one site and get the same output as a single large reactor,” the executive said. “You can start a project, deploy your energy, make money, and build other projects at the same time. This gives You have many choices,” she said.
GE Vernova aims to generate more than $2 billion in annual revenue from its small reactor business by the mid-2030s. That compares with total revenue of $33.2 billion last year. GE Vernova predicts that by 2035, the total demand for small reactors in the target markets of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe will reach 57 seats.
To meet this revenue target, GE Vernova would need to ship three to four reactors per year, according to an October research note from Bank of America. The bank said the company could capture a 33% market share in its target market.
“We are building strong order books in these target markets,” Holmes said. “Many of the buyers in the early stages will be utility companies.”
GE Vernova is also in talks with large technology companies that Holmes declined to name, which have shown increasing interest in nuclear power to meet the power needs of artificial intelligence data centers.
“We’re in conversations with a lot of big tech companies,” Holmes said. “I see a lot of interest on their part in new nuclear energy and how it could meet some of their energy needs.”
North American deployment
GE Villenova Sign a cooperation agreement In March 2023, a $500 million investment in partnership with Ontario Power Generation, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Poland’s Synthos Green Energy was announced to launch the BWRX-300 and launch the reactor at commercial scale.
Holmes said the goal is to create a standardized reactor design that can be deployed in GE Vernova’s target markets, rather than building different nuclear power plants at each location.
“We’re looking at a plant that can be deployed in many places under many regulatory regimes and still be the same basic plant,” Holmes said. “They’re helping us meet those requirements to make it the same,” she said said of the partners.
GE Vernova has also seen interest in expanding capacity at existing nuclear plants by adding small modular reactors, Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Parks said during the company’s earnings call on Oct. 23.
GE Vernova won first business contract Deployment of small modular reactors for Ontario Power Company in North America in January 2023.
The reactor is scheduled to become operational in 2029 in Darlington, Ontario, about 60 miles east of Toronto. Ontario Power Company final plan Deploy three more BWRX-300s Reactor at Darlington.
In the United States, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is considering building the BWRX-300 at its Clinch River site a few miles from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
TVA received the nation’s first early site permit in 2019 from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a small modular reactor on the Clinch River. The utility has so far approved $350 million for the project, but its board has not yet made a final decision on whether to build the reactor.
TVA Vice President Scott Hunnewell said TVA is pursuing smaller reactors because they carry less financial risk than larger 1,000-megawatt or 1-gigawatt reactors. new nuclear program.
“If you have a gigawatt-scale plant and your build time starts at eight years and then gets longer, your interest payments really start to add up and really drive up your costs,” Hunnewell told CNBC. “Overall, SMR bites are smaller and the risks associated with them are much smaller.”
Hunnewell said TVA was already familiar with the BWRX-300’s boiling water technology. The utility operates three large GE boiling water reactors at its headquarters browns ferries Stations using the same fuel as the BWRX-300.
“GE Hitachi is a known quantity,” Hunnewell said.
Holmes said GE Vernova, Ontario Power, TVA and Synthos Green Energy will share lessons learned while deploying the reactors to further streamline the construction process.
The collaboration may also benefit companies that are not part of the team. Hunnewell said TVA plans to share information with any utility interested in learning from the utility’s experience deploying small reactors.
Tech industry interest
While the BWRX-300’s main customers are utility companies, the tech industry is playing an increasingly influential role in reviving nuclear power after a long period of reactor shutdowns amid poor economic conditions in the U.S. due to cheap and plentiful natural gas.
Microsoft Signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with CLP Constellation Energywhich will provide long-term financial support for the restoration of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Amazon and Alphabet’s Google invested in small nuclear reactors in October.
Holmes does not believe technology companies will actually build and operate their own nuclear power plants, but rather support the deployment of new reactors by purchasing dedicated power from utilities.
“As utilities look to deploy additional capacity, these large technology companies may become offtakers and agree to power purchase prices that support the deployment of these early-stage devices and early-stage technologies,” Holmes said.
The executive added that the growing power needs of technology companies’ artificial intelligence data centers will be a “huge demand driver” for small nuclear reactors.
About The Author
