GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) recently announced that Dominion Energy will provide funding to help progress the BWRX-300, a 300 MWe small modular reactor design being developed by GEH.
GEH said Dominion Energy’s funding of the BWRX-300 provides seed money to further work that could lead to commercializing this technology, but said that it has no plan at this time to build the reactor at any of its commercial nuclear plants.
The BWRX-300 leverages the design and licensing basis of the NRC-certified ESBWR. Through dramatic design simplification, GEH projects the BWRX-300 will require up to 60% less capital cost per MW when compared to other water-cooled SMRs or existing large nuclear designs. If these savings can be achieved, the BWRX-300 can become cost-competitive with power generation from combined cycle gas and renewables. The BWRX-300 is the company’s 10th generation boiling water reactor design.
