Darlington Nuclear Plant Will Get a BWRX-300 SMR as GE Hitachi Bags Lucrative OPG Selection

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Dec 8, 2021, 07:09 AM - Edit history (1)

{edited to repair link}

Dec 2, 2021
by Sonal Patel

Nuclear

Darlington Nuclear Plant Will Get a BWRX-300 SMR as GE Hitachi Bags Lucrative OPG Selection

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will build a GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at its Darlington Nuclear Station in Clarington, Ontario, marking a major triumph for the nuclear vendor in a stiff competition for the much-watched utility-scale project.

OPG announced the selection of the GE Hitachi BWRX-300 SMR over competitors X-energy and Terrestrial Energy in a live stream on Dec. 2. The utility said it will now work with GE Hitachi on the SMR engineering, design, planning, preparing the licensing and permitting materials, and performing site preparation activities. The companies are targeting a “mutual goal of constructing Canada’s first commercial, grid-scale SMR, projected to be completed as early as 2028.”

Site preparation, which will include “installation of the necessary construction services,” is slated to begin in the spring of 2022, pending appropriate approvals. OPG additionally said it will apply to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a License to Construct the SMR by the end of 2022.

A Triumph for the BWRX-300

OPG’s formal selection of GEH on Thursday kicks off GEH’s first official construction project for the BWRX-300, a 300-MW boiling water reactor (BWR) that the Wilmington, N.C.–based firm, a 2007–established alliance between U.S. conglomerate GE and Japanese technology giant Hitachi, launched in 2017.

The BWRX-300 is the 10th evolution of GE’s BWR technology, and GEH says it represents “the simplest, yet most innovative BWR design since GE began developing nuclear reactors in 1955.” On its website, GEH also notes that the design is based on the Gen III+ 1,520-MW ESBWR, which the NRC certified in 2014.

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[hunter]

1. I wonder how many wind turbines that could replace...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. I think the big ones are now up to 7.5 megawatts.

I don't keep up, though I should. They could be past that now.

Thanks for writing.

[hunter]

3. So, about 100 big ugly wind turbines, a 300 megawatt gas plant, numerous fracked gas wells...

... lots of steel gas pipe and electric transmission towers, aluminum transmission lines, perhaps a battery farm...

300 megawatts / (7.5 megawatts X 0.4) = 100

I think I'm being quite generous with that 40% capacity factor for wind so I'll not factor in a capacity factor for the nuclear plant. ( And 7.5 times 0.4 equals 3, which is handy. )

This little nuclear plant sounds like a good deal.

Natural gas is an incredibly dangerous power source, largely because people think it's "better than coal" and their renewable energy schemes are not viable without it.

Hybrid gas/wind schemes will not save the world. If these schemes become more widespread natural gas consumption will only increase.

Just like coal and oil, natural gas is best left in the ground. "Better than coal" isn't good enough.

This small reactor design is interesting. It doesn't require external power sources for cooling when it is shut down.

The destruction of external power sources at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was the cause of that failure. The tsunami damaged the emergency generators and fuel tanks.