Dow and X-Energy Reactor Company have announced that Dow has selected its UCC1 Seadrift Operations manufacturing site in Texas for its proposed advanced small modular reactor nuclear project.
Dow and X-energy had previously announced their entry into a joint development agreement (JDA) to install an advanced SMR nuclear plant at an industrial site in North America. The US Department of Energy ("DOE") named Dow a sub-awardee under X-energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Programme (ARDP) Co-operative Agreement. The JDA provides for up to $50 million in engineering work, up to half of which is eligible to be funded through ARDP, and the other half by Dow.
The project is expected to reduce the Seadrift site's emissions by approximately 440 000 MT CO2/year. Dow and X-energy will now prepare and submit a Construction Permit application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Construction on the four-reactor project is expected to begin in 2026 and to be completed by the end of the decade.
X-energy was selected by the DOE in 2020 to develop, licence, build, and demonstrate an operational advanced reactor and fuel fabrication facility by the end of the decade. Since that award, X-energy has completed the engineering and basic design of the nuclear reactor, has begun development and licensing of a fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and is now working with Dow to prepare applications to the NRC for construction permits at the Seadrift site.
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