Vendors Team Up to Accelerate Small Nuclear Reactor Rollout

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The advent of small modular reactor (SMR) technology has taken a step closer to commercial realisation following an agreement between two leading proponents, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (Wilmington, North Carolina) and Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC Nuclear) (Delaware).

The companies, which are both developing their own sodium-cooled fast reactor models, have signed a memorandum of understanding to enter into a "pro-competitive collaboration" to jointly develop an SMR design, with initial deployment in Canada. This includes the short-term goals of confirming projected construction and operating costs, as well as identifying a lead plant owner/operator for the reactor.

Both companies have developed reactor designs based on the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) integral sodium-cooled fast reactor prototype at the Argonne National Laboratory. GEH has its Prism reactor, which has a rated thermal power of 840 megawatts thermal (MWt) and a power output of 311 megawatts electrical (MWe). Two Prism reactors make up a power block according to GEH, which can produce a combined total of 622 MWe. Prism uses metallic fuel, such as an alloy of zirconium, uranium, and plutonium, which can be used to close the nuclear fuel cycle, recycling used nuclear fuel to generate energy. It is designed to be refuelled every 12-24 months.

ARC is developing the ARC-100 modular reactor with a power output of 100 MWe from using nuclear waste produced by traditional reactors. It is designed for "efficient and flexible electricity generation," while operating for up to 20 years without the need for refuelling. The design uses passive safety system that "ensures the reactor will never melt down even in a disaster that causes a complete loss of power to the plant site".

"GEH has broad engineering experience, deep technical capability and significant investment in its sodium fast reactor technology program that builds on a 60-year history as an original equipment manufacturer of more than 60 boiling water reactors worldwide," said the company's president and chief executive officer, Jay Wileman. "The ARC Nuclear team brings decades of sodium fast reactor experience to this collaboration and, by working together, we can accelerate commercialisation of this technology."

ARC Nuclear Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Don Wolf added: "ARC Nuclear has a heritage of sodium fast reactor experience that includes key senior scientists and engineers from the EBR-II prototype program--technical leaders involved in developing and demonstrating the fast reactor foundational technology with the U.S. Department of Energy."

Industrial Info reported last month that SMR rivals NuScale Power LLC (Portland, Oregon) and Rolls Royce (LSE:RR) (London, England) have been advancing their own technologies in the United States and U.K., respectively. For additional information, see February 1, 2017, article - NuScale and Rolls Royce Jumpstart Mini Nuclear Power Revolution.

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