Years will pass before nuclear reactors are activated, but this application marks an important milestone for the project and for the potential of advanced nuclear technology to feed industrial processes.
“This has taken a long time to arrive,” says Harlan Bowers, senior vice president of X-Energy. The company has been working with the NRC since 2016 and presented its first regulatory commitment plan in 2018, he says.
In 2020, the United States Department of Energy chose X-Energy as one of the winners of the advanced reactor demonstration program, which provides funds for next-generation nuclear technologies. And two years have passed since X-Ennergy and Dow first announced plans for a joint development agreement at the Dow plant in Seadrift, Texas.
The SEADRIFT plant produces 4 billion pounds of materials each year, including the plastic used for pharmaceutical foods and containers and chemicals used in products such as antifreeze, soaps and paint. A natural gas plant at the site currently provides steam and electricity. That team is getting old, so the company was looking for alternatives.
“Dow saw the opportunity to replace assets at the end of life with safe, reliable and lower carbon technology,” said Edward Stones, Dow Executive, in a written statement in response to questions from MIT technology review.
Advanced nuclear reactors designed by X-Energy emerged as an adjustment for the Seadrift site partly due to their ability to offer high temperature vapor, Stones said in the statement.
