GE Hitachi Design Review in Canada for BWRX-300 Small Modular Reactor

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) announced that it has made the first submittal to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for the Vendor Design Review (VDR) of the BWRX-300 small modular reactor.

“As the demand for affordable, clean, carbon-free energy grows, there is considerable global interest in the BWRX-300 SMR and Canada is poised to play an important role in its deployment,” said Jon Ball, Executive Vice President of Nuclear Products for GEH. “Continuing the pre-licensing process with the CNSC will move us closer to the commercialization of this breakthrough technology.”

The pre-licensing Vendor Design Review is an optional service provided by the CNSC to provide early feedback during the design process with the objective of verifying, at a high level, whether a plant design intends to meet Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations.

GEH’s recent submittals to the CNSC for the combined Phase 1 and 2 review address eight of the 19 VDR focus areas including general plant description, control system and facilities, research and development and design process.

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 design simplification, GEH projects the BWRX-300 will require significantly less capital cost per MW when compared to other water-cooled SMR designs or existing large nuclear reactor designs.

By leveraging the existing ESBWR design certification, utilizing licensed and proven nuclear fuel designs, incorporating proven components and supply chains and implementing simplification innovations the BWRX-300 can, GEH believes, become cost-competitive with power generation from combined cycle gas plants and renewable energy platforms.

As the tenth evolution of GE’s first Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) design, GEH’s BWRX-300 represents the simplest, yet most innovative BWR design since GE began commercializing nuclear reactors in 1955.

GEH continues to make significant progress in advancing this technology. In January, the company announced that it had officially begun the U.S. regulatory licensing process for the reactor with the submittal of the first licensing topical report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.