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    Nuclear SMR Supply Chain Growth: GE Hitachi JV adds Worley Chemetics to Team

    Oct. 31, 2024
    GE Vernova’s plan for the BWRX-300 SMR involves extensive manufacturing work in Canada, with power utility Ontario Power Generation (OPG), GE Hitachi, engineering firm AtkinsRéalis and Aecon Construction Group collaborating to build the reactor.
    Rendering credit of BWRX-300 courtesy GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
    67238138c9f7fff11e8e9c8b Rendering Bwrx300 Web

    Not a single one has been built for commercial use yet, but the nuclear small modular reactor market is anticipating decades of progress and is feeling ever more confident of future demand.

    Why? The growth of data center industries which need vast amounts of new electricity and want it to be carbon-free is why. Some see it as proof that power resilience can connect with sustainability in the most unexpected ways.

    Several small modular reactor (SMR) startups are moving forward, but also established nuclear technology firms such as GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Westinghouse are working to develop the next generation of smaller and supposedly safer and less expensive units. These could be used in future nuclear microgrids, among other applications.

    GE Vernova, the energy wing of General Electric which was spun off into a separate company in the last year, has joined its GE Hitachi joint venture to form a supplier group for the latter’s BWRX-300 SMR reactor design.

    On Thursday, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy added a new supplier to that group. Canada-based Worley Chemetics was selected to design and fabricate the isolation condenser system for the BWRX-300.

    “The isolation condenser system is a key passive safety feature of the BWRX-300 design and we look forward to collaborating with Worley Chemetics on a manufacturing design that will deliver outstanding safety, quality and performance,” said Sean Sexstone, Executive Vice President, Advanced Nuclear, GEH, in a statement. “This collaboration aims to strengthen Ontario’s nuclear supply chain and bring economic benefits to the region.”

    The Worley Chemetics fabrication facility is in Pickering, Ontario. GE Vernova’s plan for the BWRX-300 SMR involves extensive manufacturing work in Canada, with power utility Ontario Power Generation (OPG), GE Hitachi, engineering firm AtkinsRéalis and Aecon Construction Group collaborating to build the reactor at OPG’s Darlington nuclear power station site.

    Construction on the BWRX-300 is expected to begin next year, as early site preparation work is already completed. The partnership hopes to put the BWRX-300 into operation by the end of 2029.

    Check out Microgrid Knowledge's free E-Book Report on SMRs

    Prospects for a Small, Modular and Reactive Future

    Nuclear fission reactors can operate at a high capacity factor (how often the unit is generating at peak performance) and do not release greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S., nuclear power plants generate close to 19% of total utility-scale electricity and close to half of the carbon-free power produced nationwide.

    GE Vernova and GE Hitachi Nuclear hope to build a total of four 300-MW reactor units for the OPG Darlington site.

    The proposed BWRX-300 design is a smaller boiling water reactor version of GE Hitachi nuclear technology. Other power producers either contracting for or expressing interest in utilizing the BWRX-300 of the future include Saskatchewan Power Corp. in Canada and power generators in Poland, among others.

    Other SMR designers working toward eventual commercial operation include X-energy, which signed an earlier deal with Dow Chemical, and Kairos Power which has signed an agreement with Google.

    China already is close to completion of a SMR model going into operation at Changjiang power station.

    The expansive growth of artificial intelligence models, which require a larger amount of energy than most computations, is pushing data center load growth that likely will outstrip the utility sector’s conventional power capacity soon. This is elevating the forecast for future SMRs.

    Recently, Microsoft signed a power purchase deal with Constellation Energy that will invest in reopening Three Mile Island Unit 1 as the Crane Energy Center by 2028, according to reports.

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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