GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has announced that Synthos Green Energy (SGE), part of the Synthos Group, has started discussions with Poland’s National Atomic Energy Agency (Państwowa Agencja Atomistyki – PAA) about a potential BWRX-300 small modular reactor project.
Under the Polish Nuclear Act of 2000, before applying for a permit to construct a nuclear facility, a party such as SGE may ask PAA to issue a general opinion about the organisational and technical solutions to be applied in the construction and operation of a potential facility in Poland. SGE has submitted to PAA such a request regarding the BWRX-300. SGE and GEH have signed a strategic cooperation agreement on the development and deployment of the BWRX-300. In addition to GEH, Exelon Generation , Fortum , and CMS Legal in Warsaw are supporting SGE in this process.
The BWRX-300 is a 300 MW water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of GEH’s ESBWR. Through dramatic design simplification, GEH projects that 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.