X-energy has cleared a major regulatory hurdle. The company announced on Monday, November 9, that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a construction permit for four Xe-100 reactors at a Dow chemical plant in Texas, according to TechCrunch, the American Nuclear Society and Investing.com. The ANS article is dated November 10, so dates differ by a day between sources.
What was approved. The permit covers four Xe-100 reactors, each rated at 80 megawatts of electricity and 200 megawatts of heat, at Dow’s Seadrift site in Texas, according to the coverage. Other reports say the permit went to Long Mott Energy, a wholly owned Dow subsidiary, for the Long Mott Generating Station. The reactors use helium gas flowing over uranium-containing fuel pellets, and X-energy says the design is safer than many existing reactors.
The claims. X-energy says it is the first approval for an advanced reactor at an industrial site in the US, and the companies say it is the first NRC construction permit for a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor in nearly 60 years. These are company claims. No small modular reactor is operating in the US, and X-energy says Dow’s reactors will not be operating until the early 2030s.
What the permit does not do. A construction permit does not commit anyone to build. Dow expects to consider a preliminary investment decision in 2027, with full-scale construction only after a final investment decision, according to other coverage. The partners still need to finalize the reactor design, line up suppliers for long-lead parts and prepare an operating license application.
The criticism. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement that the NRC only accomplished this feat by pushing consideration of critical safety questions to a later date, according to TechCrunch. Lyman also questioned X-energy’s safety claim and the speed of the permit. The NRC says it completed its review within its 18-month schedule, according to the reports.
The money. Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund led X-energy’s $500 million Series C-1, and Amazon has committed to buy 5 gigawatts of capacity, according to TechCrunch. X-energy raised $1 billion in an April initial public offering. Investor optimism has cooled since, and the permit gave the stock a small jolt that only recovered the previous week’s losses. TechCrunch says shares trade at less than half their IPO price but gives no figures.
Why it matters. Technology companies want steady, carbon-free power for data centers, and small reactors are one proposed answer. A permit shows that regulators can finish a review for a new design on schedule, but building reactors that are on time and on budget is a harder test. The question for readers in the US and UK is how soon any such reactor produces power, and the answer here is not before the early 2030s.
What to watch. Look for Dow’s investment decision, the final reactor design, construction costs, and whether other advanced reactor developers get permits.
Sources: TechCrunch, the American Nuclear Society and Investing.com. Details are as reported by those outlets and the companies.
Cooling towers of a nuclear power plant (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
