GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy announced the formation of GEH SMR Technologies Canada, Ltd. to support the deployment of the BWRX-300 Small Modular Reactor (SMR) in Canada.
Over the past year, GE
Hitachi has been seeking to implement its SMR technology in Canada, with a
first announcement last February of its initial submittal to the Canadian
Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a vendor design review of the company’s
BWRX-300 SMR design.
GE Hitachi has also been seeking to bring these technologies
to nuclear markets in the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia and the United
States, with progress being made in various stages
In the United States, GE Hitachi achieved a licensing milestone with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with its BWRX-300 small modular reactor, in which the NRC issued a final safety evaluation report for the first of several licensing topical reports that have been submitted for the proposed SMR model, according to GE.
The BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of GEH’s U.S. NRC-certified ESBWR. Through dramatic and innovative design simplification, GEH projects the BWRX-300 will require significantly less capital cost per MW when compared to other SMR designs.
“As we continue to advance the BWRX-300 we look forward to making future announcements about the Canadian SMR business,” GE Hitachi spokesman, Jon Allen said. “We continue to make significant progress in advancing the BWRX-300 in Canada and are on track to make additional submittals to the regulator in the coming months as part of the Vendor Design Review of the technology.”