The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has chosen Bechtel, Sargent & Lundy, and GE Hitachi to spearhead the preliminary planning and design phases for a possible BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at its Clinch River Nuclear web site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The collaboration, introduced on Jan. 23, will leverage an progressive contracting mannequin designed to streamline venture supply, the utility stated.
The number of the three companions, which adopted a “rigorous” choice course of, marks a significant step towards TVA’s ambitions to construct a 300-MW SMR venture at Clinch River, a 935-acre web site in Roane County for which TVA holds the nation’s solely early web site allow (ESP) from the Nuclear Regulatory Fee (NRC). Whereas TVA’s Board has not but voted to approve an SMR on the nuclear web site, the method aligns with the utility’s structured planning course of, which emphasizes incremental decision-making based mostly on rigorous evaluation.
As a primary step, the companions will kick off the venture’s validation part, centered on creating an in depth value estimate and schedule for the potential deployment of the BWRX-300 reactor. The part, anticipated to final one or two years, might be performed underneath an “built-in venture supply” (IPD) mannequin.
Sargent & Lundy will lead the detailed site-specific design for the reactor, whereas Bechtel will contribute insights from its in depth nuclear building expertise. “GE Hitachi, provider of the BWRX-300 reactor design, is predicted to work intently with TVA and different companions to make sure the profitable planning, design, and eventual implementation of the BWRX-300 on the web site. As the subsequent step, “ A future multi-party settlement is contemplated underneath which incentives and preparations might be negotiated to assist guarantee these estimates are achieved,” TVA stated.
In distinction to a conventional “design-bid-build” building venture supply mannequin usually used for energy initiatives, an IPD method, impressed by the development trade, enjoins numerous events concerned in venture design, fabrication, and building underneath a single settlement. The method is designed to avoid potential delays and value overruns by a system of environment friendly collaboration and communication.
“The built-in venture supply mannequin is the popular technique that may make our venture a real group effort,” defined Bob Deacy, TVA Clinch River Challenge senior vice chairman, on Thursday. “We’ll actively work collectively towards a goal finances and schedule—creating a big benefit to drive nuclear innovation, share dangers and scale back prices. This collaboration will present our area reasonably priced, dependable, and more and more clear energy and enhance America’s vitality safety.”
The IPD mannequin, notably, is being carried out at Ontario Energy Technology’s (OPG’s) BWRX-300 SMR venture on the Darlington New Nuclear Challenge (DNNP) in Ontario, Canada. As POWER reported in February 2023, OPG partnered with Canadian heavyweights SNC-Lavalin (now AtkinsRéalis) and Aecon in a deliberate effort to handle building complexities, reduce potential delays, and management value overruns related to the venture—which may develop into one of many first industrial SMR models in-built North America.
TVA is a part of a pioneering know-how collaboration settlement (TCA) alongside OPG and Synthos Inexperienced Power—an organization exploring BWRX-300 new builds in Poland—that may form a normal design for the BWRX-300 and probably velocity up the know-how’s regulatory acceptance and spur future deployment. Underneath the TCA, introduced in March 2023, the businesses may also develop a detailed design for key BWRX-300 energy plant elements, comparable to “reactor strain vessels and internals,” GE Hitachi has stated. The three energy corporations may also kind a “Design Middle Working Group” whose objective might be “making certain the usual design is deployable in a number of jurisdictions.”
TVA on Thursday lauded its companions’ expertise. The utility famous it labored with Bechtel on different nuclear initiatives, together with finishing Watts Bar 2 in 2016—the first new nuclear unit added to the U.S. fleet in additional than 20 years. The utility additionally routinely works with Sargent & Lundy, one of many world’s longest-standing full-service architect engineering corporations.
Whereas venture improvement will deal with a primary deployment at Clinch River, “The IPD group method is good for creating the potential for a number of progressive SMRs. TVA might take into account developing a number of SMR models,” TVA famous on Thursday. “The IPD group scope may also present preliminary plans with estimated value discount forecast because it pertains to developing a number of SMRs to establish improvements and to supply a development of value discount for extra reactors.”
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
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