GE Hitachi and Aecon make way in the UK - The Times Partners in the UK
https://www.aecon.com/press-room/news/2024/09/09/aecon-signs-smr-agreement-in-the-united-kingdom
https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/energy/article/ge-hitachi-mini-nuclear-plants-can-power-6m-british-homes-kg9lb9pgn#:~:text=A%20frontrunner%20in%20the%20competition%20to%20develop%20the%20first%20mini,six%20million%20homes%20by%202050.
GE Hitachi mini-nuclear plants ‘can power 6m British homes’
A frontrunner in the competition to build small modular reactors funded by taxpayers says the target is ‘reasonable for us’
A frontrunner in the competition to develop the first mini-nuclear power stations in Britain has said that it would aim to build enough plants to power about six million homes by 2050.
GE Hitachi, a joint venture between GE Vernova, the American energy equipment manufacturer, and Hitachi, the Japanese conglomerate, is vying to win taxpayer funding for its BWRX-300 design, a boiling water reactor technology.
“Being able to deploy six gigawatts, maybe 20 units in the UK, is aggressive but reasonable for us,” said Nicole Holmes, the executive leading the negotiations between the North Carolina company and Great British Nuclear, an arm’s-length, state-backed body that is leading the selection process.
Each of its units has a capacity of about 300 megawatts, enough to power 300,000 homes.
Nuclear power has dwindled to about 14 per cent of the UK’s electricity mix, down from about a quarter in the late 1990s. Hinkley Point C is the first plant to be built in more than two decades, but is running billions of pounds over budget and has been beset by delays.
Advocates of small modular reactors, which can be built in factories, say they offer a faster and more cost-effective way of boosting Britain’s supply of nuclear electricity, which can provide a baseload of power as more intermittent renewables come on to the system.
Contracts are expected to be awarded to two technology providers to each build one unit initially, with the winners announced in spring next year.
However, Great British Nuclear has asked the four providers on the shortlist — the others are Rolls-Royce, Holtec and Westinghouse — to set out the cost of providing 1,500MW of nuclear capacity, to demonstrate the economies of scale they can deliver from building more units. For GE Hitachi, that would equate to roughly five mini-nuclear plants.
A “double-digit” percentage reduction in the cost of manufacturing the fifth unit compared with the first would be possible, Holmes said. “Each unit that you progress, as your skilled labour becomes more experienced, as your supply chain sees that volume signal, will benefit.”
The previous government said that the cost of building the first two units would be about £20 billion, but the figure is due to be updated in the chancellor’s spending review next year.
Questions remain about who will finance the construction and operation of modular reactors, as well as what stake, if any, the government will retain in the new plants. It is envisioned that once a final investment decision has been taken on the first modular reactors, private financing could be sought.
The first small modular reactor is not expected to be generating electricity before 2035, too late to contribute towards Labour’s 2030 net-zero goals.
Great British Nuclear had “an aggressive but realistic schedule” for developing the country’s first small modular reactors, Holmes said.
GE Hitachi has a contract to develop the first BWRX-300 at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site near Toronto, which is due to start construction next year and begin generating power by the end of 2029. The project would help “derisk” developing the reactors in Britain, Holmes said, since its reactor would already be operating in Canada.
In the UK, the company is nearing the end of the first stage of the generic design assessment process for its small modular reactor, Holmes said.