Westinghouse unveils small modular nuclear reactor

Brookfield Business Partners LP

04/05/2023 14:00

By Timothy Gardner
       WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. company Westinghouse
unveiled plans on Thursday for a small modular reactor to
generate virtually emissions-free electricity that could replace
coal plants or power water desalinization and other industries.
    Rita Baranwal, the Westinghouse Electricity Co's top
technology officer, said the reactor, dubbed AP300 for its
planned 300 Megawatt capacity, will not use special fuels or
liquid metal coolants unlike some other next-generation
reactors. 
    It will be a smaller version of its AP1000 reactor, several
of which are operating in China, and which are ramping up in
Georgia at the Vogtle plant, after years of delay and billions
of dollars over budget.  
    Despite hurdles for new nuclear, Baranwal was confident.
"We've kept it simple, designed it on demonstrated and licensed
technology, and I think that's one of the advantages that we
have with this concept," she told Reuters in an interview.
Westinghouse, owned by Brookfield Business Partners  BBU.N ,
plans to start constructing the reactor by 2030 and have it
running by 2033.
        Small modular reactors (SMR) are meant to fit new
applications such as replacing shut coal plants and being
located in more remote communities. President Joe Biden's
administration believes that maintaining existing nuclear plants
and developing next-generation reactors is crucial for its goal
of decarbonizing the economy by 2050.
  
        So far the design for only one SMR, planned by NuScale
Power Corp  SMR.N , has been approved by U.S. regulators and it
still needs permits. 
        Westinghouse did not reveal how much the first reactor
would cost, but said later units would cost about $1 billion.
The company, based in western Pennsylvania, has had informal
talks with parties in neighboring states Ohio and West Virginia
about the potential building of AP300s at former coal plants. 
  
        Westinghouse also hopes to sell reactors to countries in
eastern Europe, even though nuclear power critics have expressed
    concerns
     that developers and governments should think carefully
before building new nuclear plants anywhere near the region.
They noted that Russia took the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
in Ukraine, the site of repeated shelling.
  
        Baranwal said Russia's actions have made countries
motivated to become more energy independent and the AP300 will
be passively safe because it does not need power supply or human
intervention for 72 hours in the event of an incident. 
  
        Westinghouse also sees potential customers in
sub-Saharan Africa, which could bring electricity for the first
time to some areas.
  
        The company is not sure yet whether the technology can
be exported to China, where the first AP1000s began operations
in 2018. That year, former President Donald Trump's
administration issued restrictions on exports of nuclear
technology newer than the AP1000 due to nuclear proliferation
concerns. 
  
        Baranwal said if the U.S. government deems AP300 to be a
subset of the earlier reactor technology "then we can start
entertaining the possibilities" of exporting it to China.
  

 (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)
 ((timothy.gardner@thomsonreuters.com; +1 202 380-8348 (Twitter
@timogard); Reuters Messaging:
timothy.gardner.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))