Canadian nuclear regulator advances review of BWRX-300 reactor design

Canadian nuclear regulator CNSC has completed the first and second phases of the pre-licensing review of the BWRX-300 reactor vendor’s design. This reactor concept is being developed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. The review concluded that there are currently no barriers to licensing the concept.

Cutaway of a power plant based on the BWRX-300 reactor concept Source: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy During the three-year review, the regulator produced more than 200 documents and technical presentations, and sent numerous questions covering various aspects of the nuclear reactor’s design.

“CNSC staff concluded that GE Hitachi understood the regulator’s requirements for the design of nuclear power plants in Canada. During the review, they found no major barriers that could prevent the design from being licensed. However, the review identified several areas that GE Hitachi must address to better meet CNSC requirements,” the Canadian nuclear regulator said.

The areas the reactor developers must address include more detailed reports on physical security, further severe accident analyses, additional analyses of safety features, more detailed information on radiation protection, human factors analyses, plans for decommissioning the plant, and fire protection. In addition, the reactor developers must demonstrate that the BWRX-300 meets the requirements for two independent and diverse reactor shutdown systems, or an equivalent system.

“The BWRX-300 is the first small modular reactor to complete the first two phases of a pre-licensing review by the Canadian nuclear regulator. The successful completion of this project and feedback from CNSC are important steps towards deploying this technology,” said Sean Sextone, executive vice president of advanced nuclear technologies at GE Hitachi.

BWRX-300

The BWRX-300 is a small boiling water reactor with an output of 300 MWe. The concept builds on the development of the ESBWR reactor and incorporates similar passive safety features. The ESBWR has already successfully completed certification by the US regulator. The BWRX-300 is therefore GE Hitachi’s tenth-generation boiling water reactor. Unlike other reactors currently in operation, it does not have main circulation pumps, and natural circulation alone cools the core.

Deployment and reactor review

Poland has expressed interest in the BWRX-300 reactor. In February, the Polish nuclear regulator signed a cooperation agreement to review the concept. Estonia’s Fermi Energia has selected the BWRX-300 as a possible model for deployment in the Baltic states. According to its plans, the first units could be built as early as the 2030s. The company will now sign preliminary agreements for these projects. In January, Ontario Power Generation, SNC-Lavalin and Aecon signed an agreement to deploy the BWRX-300 at the Darlington plant site. In August last year, the Tennessee Valley Authority began planning preliminary licensing for a potential deployment of the reactor at the Clinch River site. In June 2022, Canadian company SaskPower selected the concept for deployment in the province of Saskatchewan. A new unit is expected to be built there by the mid-2030s.