- HOLTEC Plants a Flag with SMRs at Palisades
- NuScale Partners with ORNL to Assess Use of the SMR for Combined Heat and Power
- New Consortium Aims to Deployment Lead-Cooled Nuclear Plants
- Finland Plans Fleet of 15 SMRs for District Heating
HOLTEC Plants a Flag with SMRs at Palisades
Holtec, a US developer of small modular reactors (SMRs) based in Jupiter, FL, announced this week that it will begin work on building small modular reactors (SMR-300), based on light water design principles, at the site of the former Palisades Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Michigan.The firm said the twin SMRs could be commissioned by the early 2030s subject to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) regulatory reviews and oversight.
Holtec’s twin SMR-300 reactors are designed to produce a minimum of 300 MW (net-electric) power under adverse climate conditions and in water-challenged regions (forcing the use of air instead of water for rejection of the plant’s waste heat). The thermal output per reactor is well above 1000 MW. The design of Holtec’s SMR-300 reactor uses forced air instead of water for rejection of the plant’s waste heat. The firm plans to position it for a combined heat and power profile for customers.
However, as of 11/21/23 Holtec’s pre-licensing documents at the NRC continues to cite the 160 MW design. See for instance in NRC ADAMS : ML23291A018
“U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION SUMMARY OF THE OCTOBER 4, 2023, PREAPPLICATION PUBLIC MEETING WITH SMR, LLC (A HOLTEC INTERNATIONAL COMPANY) TO DISCUSS APPLICABILITY OF THE THREE MILE ISLAND REQUIREMENTS TO THE SMR-160 DESIGN”
A search of the ADAMS library for a regulatory engagement plan for the 300 MW design did not indicate one been filed either in terms of a document or a transmittal letter. It is possible Holtec will continue to pursue licensing for the 160 MW version and then follow-up with the 300 MW uprated design. This is the path NuScale took licensing its 50 MW SMR and then uprating it to 77 MW with accompanying licensing with the NRC.
Future of Palisades NPP
Holtec also announced it will continue its effort to repower the 805 MW PWR although the US Department of Energy has not yet made a decision on the firm’s application for funding to pursue that objective.
In March 2023 Holtec re-submitted its funding request to DOE to restart the Palisades NPP. This was its second attempt at funding after applying for, and being denied, funds through the Civil Nuclear Credit Program in November 2022. Since then neither the company nor the agency has made any noteworthy public comments about the status of the application. Separately, the State of Michigan offered $150M to help restart the plant.
Nevertheless, despite the apparent lack of a decision by DOE, and without announcing any outside investors, Holtec said in a press statement on 12/04/23 that the existing Palisades plant is being refurbished with an array of design and safety enhancements and is on track to be restarted by the end of 2025.
Once restarted, Holtec said, the plant is expected to provide decades of safe and reliable service. The addition of two Holtec small modular reactors (SMRs) near the existing 800-megawatt (MW) plant will nearly double the Michigan site’s total carbon-free generation capacity.
Confidence in an Ambitious Plan
Holtec’s CEO, Dr. Kris Sinh expressed his confidence in the firm’s ambitious plans for the development of SMRs at the Palisades site and for restart of the reactor itself.
“Siting the first two SMR-300 units at Palisades eliminates the delays associated with erecting the plant at an undeveloped property and confers the many benefits of synergy that accrue from the presence of a co-located operating plant. They include shared infrastructure and operational expertise, enhancements to grid stability, and resource optimization.”
In an apparent response to the question of whether or not DOE funding can be secured for the project, Sin said in his press statement, “By building at our own site with our own credit and our own at-risk funds, we hope to deliver the dual-unit SMR-300 plant within schedule and budget.”
Regulatory Review Plans
The firm said filing of the Construction Permit Application (CPA) with the NRC for the two Holtec Palisades SMRs is targeted for 2026, shortly after the existing Palisades plant is anticipated by Holtec to returns to service. So far, Holtec has been in pre-licensing meetings with the NRC. This is the first time the firm has set a milestone for submitting the SMR-300 for a formal review by the agency.
According to the NRC, a construction permit for the construction of a production or utilization facility will be issued before the issuance of a license if the application is otherwise acceptable, and will be converted upon completion of the facility and Commission action, into a license.
Holtec asserts that a number of recent design improvements for the SMR-300 will speed up the regulatory review by the NRC. The firm said the most recent change is the incorporation of forced flow capability overlayed on gravity-driven flow in the plant’s primary system which has been the hallmark of Holtec’s SMR.“The addition of booster pumps for normal operations does not change the plant’s essential safety features, as the pumps are not relied upon for safe shutdown operations.”
“SMR-300 remains “walk-away safe” with its redundant passive safety systems that operate without any operator action nor any external source of electricity or cooling water. “
Oyster Creek on Tap for SMRs
The 700-acre Oyster Creek site, also owned by Holtec on Barnegat Bay in Central New Jersey, is another potential domestic location for early SMR-300 deployments.
The Oyster Creek BWR at the site has been substantially decommissioned by Holtec. The focus for deployment of Holtec’s SMR-300 at Oyster Creek has turned to hydrogen production due to the ongoing electricity market dynamics. The technical assessments will advance deployment of SMR-300s at Oyster Creek to accord with the mission of a recent DOE award to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2), of which Holtec is a member.
Head-to-Head Competition Among SMRs at 300 MWe
Holtec’s choice of lashing twin 160 MWe SMRs together makes it the latest SMR developer to target the 300 MW power rating. Others in the mix include the GE-Hitachi (GEH) BWRX 300, the TerraPower advanced sodium cooled 345 MW Natrium, the four-pack of X-Energy’s 80 MWe HTGR and the recently announced Westinghouse AP-300.
- The GEH BWRX300 is slated to be built at the Tennessee Valley Clinch River site and at the Darlington site for Ontario Power Generation.
- The TerraPower reactor is slated for a first-of-a-kind project to be built at a remote site in far southwestern Wyoming to replace a coal fired power plant, but has been delayed by two years due to the shortage of HALEU fuel.
- X-Energy earlier this year announced a deal with Dow to build four of its HTGRs at the site of a DOE chemical manufacturing plant in Texas to provide combined heat and power.
- Westinghouse is pursuing market opportunities for the AP-300 in the UK and Ukraine according to news media reports.
Both the GEH BWRX300 and the Westinghouse AP300 are designed based on much larger BWR and PWR reactors that have been licensed and built in the US. It is expected this will give both firms advantages in terms of regulatory reviews, ramping up supply chains, and in building the reactors.
The TerraPower and X-Energy reactors are advanced reactors with the Department of Energy pushing these technologies with cost shared funding to lower the financial risk of proving the innovations for commercial use.
Note to Readers: This post was updated on 12/05/23 to clarify the information about the electrical and thermal design elements of the SMR300. I am grateful to MIT Professor Koroush Shirvan for his comments on this topic.
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NuScale Partners with ORNL to Assess Use of the SMR for Combined Heat and Power
NuSale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) announced today it is partnering with with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to perform a techno-economic assessment (TEA) of the firm’s small modular reactor’s (SMR) ability to implement a cost-effective steam heat augmentation design. The collaboration will assess a novel decarbonization path for a major U.S. chemical company by pairing NuScale’s SMR technology with a heat augmentation system
The study will be based on process data from an unnamed U.S. chemical facility to help the plant meet its electric power and process steam requirements. This work will be a collaborative effort with engineers from ORNL and NuScale forming a composite engineering team. The proposed deliverables of the techno-economic assessment are anticipated to be completed within one year.
The TEA is receiving funding through an award granted by the DOE’s GAIN initiative, housed within the Office of Nuclear Energy. GAIN provides technical, regulatory, and financial support needed to advance nuclear technology towards commercialization. This is the fourth round of GAIN Vouchers awarded in fiscal year 2023.
The strategic partnership between NuScale and ORNL is a significant step in the effort to decarbonize commercial chemical plants. Harnessing the heat output of NuScale SMRs for steam production would present a reliable clean energy option for commercial chemical plants looking to meet clean energy goals.
The techno-economic assessment will evaluate the viability of NuScale’s SMR technology with steam heat augmentation for use in a chemical system, including examination of steam reliability, operational costs, and system stability.
SMR siting suitability will also be studied, with NuScale receiving NRC approval for an Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) sizing methodology capable of a site boundary EPZ. NuScale is the only SMR vendor to receive NRC approval for its EPZ sizing methodology.
The TEA is receiving funding through an award granted by the DOE’s GAIN initiative, housed within the Office of Nuclear Energy. GAIN provides technical, regulatory, and financial support needed to advance nuclear technology towards commercialization. This is the fourth round of GAIN Vouchers awarded in fiscal year 2023.
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New Consortium Aims to Deploy Of Lead-Cooled Nuclear Plants
- Partners aim to build test plant at SCK CEN facility in Belgium
(NucNet) Belgium, Italy and Romania have formed a consortium with Westinghouse Electric to develop and “deploy globally” lead-cooled fast reactors small nuclear reactors. The ultimate aim is the global deployment of a lead-cooled fast reactor design developed by Westinghouse.
Belgian prime minister Alexander de Croo signed the joint statement of the partnership in the presence of Romanian president Klaus Iohannis and representatives from the Italian and US embassies in Belgium.
The five partners are Westinghouse, Italian companies Ansaldo and ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), the Romanian research institution Raten and Belgium’s nuclear research center SCK CEN.
Westinghouse says its lead-cooled fast reactor is a medium-sized, modular plant being developed to reduce front-end capital cost and generate flexible and cost-competitive electricity. Use of lead as coolant, with a boiling point exceeding 1,700°C, allows for high temperature operation without coolant boiling concerns. It added that lead-cooled fast reactors have passive safety features and more efficient nuclear fuel use than other reactors. They reduce the amount of long-lived radioactive waste.
Commercial rollout will require extensive research and intensive testing. The consortium aims to begin with a small-size reactor to demonstrate the technological and engineering aspects of a commercial SMR. This test plant will be built at SCK CEN’s facility at Mol, Belgium.
The next development phase will be the construction of the advanced lead-cooled fast reactor European demonstrator (Alfred) in Romania. Work at this plant will focus on the technical and economic feasibility of future commercial SMRs.
A year and a half ago, Belgium took the decision to accelerate its energy transition, de Croo said. “Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, limiting our gas emissions and our dependence on countries like Russia, by investing massively in offshore energy, hydrogen infrastructure, but also the nuclear power of the future.”
“We have decided to do this by drawing on the expertise developed in Belgium, and by allocating 100 million euros ($106.8m) to the research and development of small modular reactors,” he added.
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Finland Plans Fleet of 15 SMRs for District Heating
(WNN) Steady Energy – Finnish developer of the LDR-50 small modular reactor (SMR) – has signed a letter of intent with municipal energy company  Kuopion Energia that includes an option for the construction of up to five district heating reactors starting in 2030.
A schematic of the LDR-50 reactor design (Image: VTT)
The agreement follows a letter of intent signed in October between Steady Energy and Helsinki’s energy company Helen for the construction of up to 10 SMRs for district heating. According to that agreement, Helen and Steady Energy would launch a planning process with the objective of concluding a pre-investment agreement concerning nuclear heat production within six months.
Steady Energy – which was spun out earlier this year from the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland – aims to build the world’s first district heating plant featuring its LDR-50 SMR by 2030.
The Low-temperature District heating Reactor (LDR-50), with a thermal output of 50 MWt, has been in development at VTT since 2020. Designed to operate at around 150°C and below 10 bar (145 psi), Steady Energy says its “operating conditions are less demanding compared with those of traditional reactors, simplifying the technical solutions.
The development relies on well-established pressurized water technology, combined with passive safety design. The LDR-50 is s a small modular reactor operating at conditions suitable for heat production without any turbine cycle. The LDR-50 reactor module is made of two nested pressure vessels, with their intermediate space partially filled with water.
The primary circuit is enclosed inside the reactor vessel. Coolant circulates between the core and the main heat exchangers by natural convection. Heat is transferred to the district heating network via the secondary circuit.
“We now have an option to build a total of 15 reactors, which would correspond to approximately EUR1 billion (USD1.1 billion) in turnover,” said Steady Energy CEO Tommi Nyman. “The signed letters of intent reflect the strong desire within the energy industry to develop new affordable and low-emission energy technologies for producing district heat.”
In Finland, more than half of the energy used for heating comes from district heating, which is mostly produced with fossil fuels, peat and biomass, Steady Energy noted. Utilities are seeking ways to swiftly transit away from combustion-based heat production to new and innovative low emission alternatives such as SMRs.
“Our goal is to build the first plants in Finland to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology,” Nyman said. “Then we will target the global marketplace. Combating climate change requires a rapid reduction of emissions, and we have one effective solution to offer.”
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