Latest news with #SmallModularReactor
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TVA reapplies for $800M grant to ‘accelerate' construction of Small Modular Reactor
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Tennessee Valley Authority has reapplied for an $800 million grant to 'accelerate' the construction of the country's first Small Modular Reactor (SMR), which could potentially be installed at the TVA's Clinch River Nuclear Site. The reapplication comes after the U.S. Department of Energy updated grant criteria for the original $800M grant the TVA applied for in January, which was created and appropriated by Congress in 2024. The TVA said the DOE asked applicants to reapply after the criteria were updated. Company awarded grant to build centrifuge facility in Oak Ridge Since 2023, the TVA has been working with working with GE Hitachi, Ontario Power Generation and Synthos Green Energy to develop the standard design for the BWRX-300 SMR. In January, the TVA and its partners announced that they were entering the planning phase for the initial construction and design of the SMR for the TVA' Clinch River Nuclear Site. The TVA said it has completed the Environmental Review for the Clinch River project and has sent a notification of intent to submit a Construction Permit Application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The TVA is hoping to submit the application by this summer, and earlier this month, it submitted an application for a separate DOE grant for $8 million in support of the NRC license review costs, the TVA said. According to the TVA, preliminary site preparation for the Small Modular Reactor could begin as soon as 2026. 'We are facing a historic moment that could decide our nation's energy security for decades to come and the world is looking for American leadership,' said Don Moul, TVA President and CEO. 'This is not about building an SMR. We are working to develop a technology, a supply chain, a delivery model and an industry that will unleash American energy.' 'A design anchored in reality' Knoxville company one step closer to creating fusion power plant In January, the TVA released a document that said the nominal energy output for the BWRX-300 SMR would be 300 Megawatts of electrical capacity. Based on an explanation of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, if the reactor were able to operate at full capacity for every hour of every day for 365 days, the SMR could produce up to 2,628,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year. In Tennessee, the advanced energy industry accounts for more than 400,000 jobs and is growing faster than the state's overall economy, one report from 2024 states. The report added that in 2022, advanced energy added $56 billion to Tennessee's GDP during 2022. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Time of India
22-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Russia's Rosatom says will proceed with Myanmar nuclear plant despite quake
Bangkok: A plan to build a nuclear power plant will continue in Myanmar, a war-torn Southeast Asian country partly devastated by a massive earthquake in March, the Russian state-owned firm leading the project told Reuters. Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month signed an agreement for a small-scale nuclear facility, three weeks before the 7.7 magnitude quake flattened communities and left more than 3,700 people dead - the country's deadliest natural disaster in decades. The agreement involves cooperation to build a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) in Myanmar with an initial 110 MW capacity, consisting of two 55 MW reactors manufactured by Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom . "The recent earthquake has not affected Rosatom's plans in Myanmar," the company's press office said in an email. "Rosatom adheres to the highest international safety and reliability standards, including strict seismic resistance requirements." The company's intention to go ahead with the nuclear plan despite the quake, which crippled critical infrastructure, has not been previously reported. Rosatom declined to provide any construction timeline or details of the location of the proposed nuclear facility that will be powered by RITM-200N reactors, which were made by the company for use initially on icebreaker ships. A Myanmar junta spokesman did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment. The push for nuclear power in Myanmar comes amid an expanding civil war triggered by a 2021 military coup that removed the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Facing a collection of established ethnic armies and new armed groups set up in the wake of the coup, the ruling junta has lost ground across large parts of the country and increasing leaned on its few foreign allies, including Russia. The conflict, which stretches from the border with China to the coast along the Bay of Bengal, has displaced more than 3.5 million people and left Myanmar's mainly agrarian economy is tatters. Myanmar is currently evaluating options for financing the Russia-backed nuclear power project. "This may involve both own and borrowed funds," Rosatom said. In places such as Bangladesh and Egypt, Russia has funded conventional nuclear power projects through low interest loans. Authorities in neighbouring Thailand, which is closely monitoring Myanmar's nuclear developments, assess that a plant could be built in Naypyitaw, a fortified purpose-built capital that was heavily damaged by the earthquake, according to a security source briefed on the matter. Two other potential sites include a location in the central Bago region and the Dawei special economic zone in southern Myanmar, where the junta and Russia have announced plans to build a port and an oil refinery, according to the Thai assessment. Myanmar lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates and is one of the world's most seismically active countries. Money And Manpower Southeast Asia's first nuclear facility - the 621 MW Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines - was finished in 1984 with a price tag of $2.3 billion but mothballed in the wake of the Chornobyl disaster in the then Soviet Union two years later. The Philippines and other regional countries have since mounted repeated efforts to explore nuclear energy but made limited progress. Vietnam is, however, renewing a bet on nuclear power after it suspended its programme in 2016. Russia and Myanmar have been collaborating in the sector for years, with Burmese students studying nuclear energy and related subjects in Russian universities under government quotas since 2019, according to Rosatom. In comparison to a large conventional nuclear power reactor, components of SMRs can be assembled and transported as a single unit to the installation location, according the International Atomic Energy Agency. "I do not foresee any complication, technology-wise," said Doonyapong Wongsawaeng, a lecturer at the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "I feel that the main challenge would instead be the continuous commitment from the Myanmar government." With the Myanmar junta prioritising exports of natural gas, which could be used to fuel cheaper domestic power generation, to earn foreign exchange, the nuclear plan makes no economic sense for a cash-strapped administration, said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser at International Crisis Group. "Nuclear power is very expensive, and Myanmar simply can't afford it," he said.
Straits Times
22-04-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Russia's Rosatom says will proceed with Myanmar nuclear plant despite quake
FILE PHOTO: Myanmar's military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing presents a book to Russia's President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, March 4, 2025. Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Russia's Rosatom says will proceed with Myanmar nuclear plant despite quake BANGKOK - A plan to build a nuclear power plant will continue in Myanmar, a war-torn Southeast Asian country partly devastated by a massive earthquake in March, the Russian state-owned firm leading the project told Reuters. Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month signed an agreement for a small-scale nuclear facility, three weeks before the 7.7 magnitude quake flattened communities and left more than 3,700 people dead - the country's deadliest natural disaster in decades. The agreement involves cooperation to build a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) in Myanmar with an initial 110 MW capacity, consisting of two 55 MW reactors manufactured by Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom. "The recent earthquake has not affected Rosatom's plans in Myanmar," the company's press office said in an email. "Rosatom adheres to the highest international safety and reliability standards, including strict seismic resistance requirements." The company's intention to go ahead with the nuclear plan despite the quake, which crippled critical infrastructure, has not been previously reported. Rosatom declined to provide any construction timeline or details of the location of the proposed nuclear facility that will be powered by RITM-200N reactors, which were made by the company for use initially on icebreaker ships. A Myanmar junta spokesman did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment. The push for nuclear power in Myanmar comes amid an expanding civil war triggered by a 2021 military coup that removed the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Facing a collection of established ethnic armies and new armed groups set up in the wake of the coup, the ruling junta has lost ground across large parts of the country and increasing leaned on its few foreign allies, including Russia. The conflict, which stretches from the border with China to the coast along the Bay of Bengal, has displaced more than 3.5 million people and left Myanmar's mainly agrarian economy is tatters. Myanmar is currently evaluating options for financing the Russia-backed nuclear power project. "This may involve both own and borrowed funds," Rosatom said. In places such as Bangladesh and Egypt, Russia has funded conventional nuclear power projects through low interest loans. Authorities in neighbouring Thailand, which is closely monitoring Myanmar's nuclear developments, assess that a plant could be built in Naypyitaw, a fortified purpose-built capital that was heavily damaged by the earthquake, according to a security source briefed on the matter. Two other potential sites include a location in the central Bago region and the Dawei special economic zone in southern Myanmar, where the junta and Russia have announced plans to build a port and an oil refinery, according to the Thai assessment. Myanmar lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates and is one of the world's most seismically active countries. MONEY AND MANPOWER Southeast Asia's first nuclear facility - the 621 MW Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines - was finished in 1984 with a price tag of $2.3 billion but mothballed in the wake of the Chornobyl disaster in the then Soviet Union two years later. The Philippines and other regional countries have since mounted repeated efforts to explore nuclear energy but made limited progress. Vietnam is, however, renewing a bet on nuclear power after it suspended its programme in 2016. Russia and Myanmar have been collaborating in the sector for years, with Burmese students studying nuclear energy and related subjects in Russian universities under government quotas since 2019, according to Rosatom. In comparison to a large conventional nuclear power reactor, components of SMRs can be assembled and transported as a single unit to the installation location, according the International Atomic Energy Agency. "I do not foresee any complication, technology-wise," said Doonyapong Wongsawaeng, a lecturer at the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "I feel that the main challenge would instead be the continuous commitment from the Myanmar government." With the Myanmar junta prioritising exports of natural gas, which could be used to fuel cheaper domestic power generation, to earn foreign exchange, the nuclear plan makes no economic sense for a cash-strapped administration, said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser at International Crisis Group. "Nuclear power is very expensive, and Myanmar simply can't afford it," he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
22-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Russia's Rosatom says will proceed with Myanmar nuclear plant despite quake
Summary Companies BANGKOK, April 22 (Reuters) - A plan to build a nuclear power plant will continue in Myanmar, a war-torn Southeast Asian country partly devastated by a massive earthquake in March, the Russian state-owned firm leading the project told Reuters. Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month signed an agreement for a small-scale nuclear facility, three weeks before the 7.7 magnitude quake flattened communities and left more than 3,700 people dead - the country's deadliest natural disaster in decades. The agreement involves cooperation to build a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) in Myanmar with an initial 110 MW capacity, consisting of two 55 MW reactors manufactured by Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom. "The recent earthquake has not affected Rosatom's plans in Myanmar," the company's press office said in an email. "Rosatom adheres to the highest international safety and reliability standards, including strict seismic resistance requirements." The company's intention to go ahead with the nuclear plan despite the quake, which crippled critical infrastructure, has not been previously reported. Rosatom declined to provide any construction timeline or details of the location of the proposed nuclear facility that will be powered by RITM-200N reactors, which were made by the company for use initially on icebreaker ships. A Myanmar junta spokesman did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment. The push for nuclear power in Myanmar comes amid an expanding civil war triggered by a 2021 military coup that removed the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Facing a collection of established ethnic armies and new armed groups set up in the wake of the coup, the ruling junta has lost ground across large parts of the country and increasing leaned on its few foreign allies, including Russia. The conflict, which stretches from the border with China to the coast along the Bay of Bengal, has displaced more than 3.5 million people and left Myanmar's mainly agrarian economy is tatters. Myanmar is currently evaluating options for financing the Russia-backed nuclear power project. "This may involve both own and borrowed funds," Rosatom said. In places such as Bangladesh and Egypt, Russia has funded conventional nuclear power projects through low interest loans. Authorities in neighbouring Thailand, which is closely monitoring Myanmar's nuclear developments, assess that a plant could be built in Naypyitaw, a fortified purpose-built capital that was heavily damaged by the earthquake, according to a security source briefed on the matter. Two other potential sites include a location in the central Bago region and the Dawei special economic zone in southern Myanmar, where the junta and Russia have announced plans to build a port and an oil refinery, according to the Thai assessment. Myanmar lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates and is one of the world's most seismically active countries. MONEY AND MANPOWER Southeast Asia's first nuclear facility - the 621 MW Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines - was finished in 1984 with a price tag of $2.3 billion but mothballed in the wake of the Chornobyl disaster, opens new tab in the then Soviet Union two years later. The Philippines and other regional countries have since mounted repeated efforts to explore nuclear energy but made limited progress. Vietnam is, however, renewing a bet on nuclear power after it suspended its programme in 2016. Russia and Myanmar have been collaborating in the sector for years, with Burmese students studying nuclear energy and related subjects in Russian universities under government quotas since 2019, according to Rosatom. In comparison to a large conventional nuclear power reactor, components of SMRs can be assembled and transported as a single unit to the installation location, according the International Atomic Energy Agency, opens new tab. "I do not foresee any complication, technology-wise," said Doonyapong Wongsawaeng, a lecturer at the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "I feel that the main challenge would instead be the continuous commitment from the Myanmar government." With the Myanmar junta prioritising exports of natural gas, which could be used to fuel cheaper domestic power generation, to earn foreign exchange, the nuclear plan makes no economic sense for a cash-strapped administration, said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser at International Crisis Group. "Nuclear power is very expensive, and Myanmar simply can't afford it," he said.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Energy chief envisions US nuclear renaissance: restoring ‘pit' production, localizing nuke power
In a wide-ranging interview last week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright discussed how the U.S. can bring nuclear power to the fore for both energy and defense purposes, starting with rebooting otherwise dormant "pit" production. Under the first Trump administration, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sought to meet the Pentagon's goal of manufacturing 80 such pits – spherical hulls of plutonium sized from a grapefruit to a bowling ball – according to the UK Guardian. Wright suggested he wants to see the plan realized, as the same Energy Department laboratory in New Mexico where J. Robert Oppenheimer helped develop the atom bomb is reportedly working to return to earnest pit production. The U.S. has never imported plutonium pits but also hasn't done any such major manufacturing since the end of the Cold War. Energy Chief Slashes Red Tape Early In Term "But those existing weapons stockpiles, like anything else, they age with time. And so, we've realized we've got to restore the production of plutonium pits in our complex," Wright said. Read On The Fox News App "We've built one in the last 25 years, and we'll build more than 100 during the Trump administration," he pledged. Bolstering pit production along with a less military-minded nuclear technology are a priority of Wright's tenure, he said. Wright said he is working to reopen the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan, which closed a few years ago. Another major plant, Indian Point on the Hudson River opposite Haverstraw, N.Y., that had helped power New York City was notably closed under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. There has been little effort there, however, to see a reopening. In addition to the large-scale plants, Wright said the Energy Department seeks to forward SMR or Small Modular Reactor technology, which he said could be groundbreaking in terms of powering underserved communities and important or sensitive sites that may be far from established large-scale plants. "Nuclear weapons and nuclear power started in the United States. We built a whole bunch of power plants. And by the mid-80s, we essentially stopped building them," he said. Rfk Jr Talks Kennedy History On First Trip As Hhs Chief "Part of our goal is to bring this to make it more efficient to build things in America again. But one thing with nuclear technology is things that you have to build on-location have become slower to build, and therefore way more expensive to build." SMRs alleviate that pressure, as materials needed to build the plants can be shipped and assembled on-site on a much smaller scale, but with a potential for per-capita greater power output. Unlike "stick-building a house" in terms of a large-scale plant, implements for an SMR can be made in a factory and are more mobile. A data center, military base or state concern could essentially file to have an SMR installed on-site, giving a greater domestic power source and a better overall grid. "There's great private capital, capital that's been around the innovations to design these plants. But again, you got this slow-moving, bureaucratic central government that's still got to permit them and allow them to approve. So the nuclear renaissance has been talked about for years. And the Trump administration were actually going to start it," Wright said. "That is, simplifying the regulatory regime. We just sent out a request for a proposal to fund efforts to speed these along. And actually there was a similar one sent out a while ago for the Biden administration. They hadn't gotten responses back." States that seek to benefit from SMRs have been vocal in support of that technology. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a bill in 2022 seeking to promote the construction of SMRs, saying that "micronuclear technology has a potential role to play in providing low-cost, reliable power for communities, remote villages and resource development projects." "This bill will update state law to allow us to pursue the possibilities." Asked about opposition to nuclear energy, including the closure of Indian Point, Wright said that like almost any other topic, it is vulnerable to politicization. "It just makes no sense at all," he said. "It has by far been the safest way to produce energy in the entire history of the American nuclear industry." "I know exactly how many people have died from nuclear energy: Zero." Wright said nuclear power has an "incredibly small footprint," and echoed President Donald Trump's criticisms of relying too heavily on wind and solar. "You get the energy whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. But like any industry, it needs to be alive and vigorous so that supply chain is going; and not building nuclear plants in our country for decades means we've lost that industrial capacity. So, we've got to stand it back up again."Original article source: Energy chief envisions US nuclear renaissance: restoring 'pit' production, localizing nuke power
