Michał Sołowow, billionaire owner of chemical company Synthos SA, is planning to build a 300 MW small modular reactor (SMR) in Poland in the next decade in cooperation with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH).

GEH said in a press statement: “Synthos is interested in obtaining affordable, on-demand, carbon-free electricity from a dependable, dedicated source.” The statement was made as the two firms signed a letter of intent to build the BWRX-300 small modular reactor

GEH said in its press statement, “Through our design-to-cost approach, we are designing the BWRX-300 to be cost competitive with gas, renewables and other forms of power generation.”

Synthos is a manufacturer of synthetic rubber and one of the biggest producers of chemical raw materials in Poland.

The BWRX-300 is the latest project launched by GEH, a joint venture of the US GE and Japanese Hitachi.

GE-Hitachi Kicks Off BWRX-300 SMR for Estonia

US-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Estonia’s Fermi Energia have signed an agreement to collaborate on the potential deployment of GEH’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) in the Baltic country. [press statement]

GEH said in a statement that under the agreement, the two companies will examine the economic feasibility of building a BWRX-300 in Estonia. The agreement covers a review of site requirements and an assessment of local nuclear regulatory requirements.

Kalev Kallemets, chief executive officer of Fermi Energia, is quoted as saying that Estonia needs to consider new generation SMR technology to maintain energy independence and achieve climate neutrality.

“Boiling water reactors have been proven in the Nordics to be safe, economic and reliable providers of carbon-free energy for decades and the design of the BWRX-300 makes it a competitive technology.”

The BWRX-300 is a 300-MW SMR derived from GEH’s 1,520 MW Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) design.

According to GEH, the BWRX-300 leverages the design and licensing basis of the ESBWR, which received design certification in the US in 2014. Essentially, it is an SMR that is a BWR.

The BWRX-300, a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems, leverages the design and licensing basis of the U.S. NRC-certified ESBWR. Through design simplification, GEH claims the BWRX-300 will require less capital cost per MW when compared to other water-cooled SMRs or existing large nuclear reactor designs.

GEH said Fermi Energia plans to make public the results of its feasibility study on the suitability of SMRs for Estonia in January 2020.

In an earlier action GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy  initiated a Vendor Design Review of its BWRX-300 small modular reactor in May 2019 with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).

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