GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy: Helping Meet the Challenge of the UK’s Clean Electricity Needs Posted on: February 1st, 2021 GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is a world-leading provider of nuclear power plant technology, nuclear reactors and nuclear services. With the UK committing to becoming zero carbon by 2050 there is an ever growing need to find low carbon energy sources – and GE Hitachi are committed to this. We’ve been speaking exclusively with the firms Vice President of UK Sales David Powell about their future plans… Q. What characteristics make nuclear energy a vital resource to expand for the future? Nuclear generation is a safe and reliable source of low carbon electricity and is essential to help the UK achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Meeting this challenge will require a quadrupling of reliable, clean electricity which will need both large and small reactors to be built in the UK. GE Hitachi’s SMR, the BWRX-300 is ahead of the development curve and could be deployed before 2030 which is important as seven of the eight nuclear power stations in the UK are due to close by 2030. Building and operating BWRX-300s in the UK also generates jobs in both supply chain and services sector with the potential for future export. Q. What will be the impact of Small Modular Reactors on Britain’s energy market? SMRs offer faster deployment, cost savings, more flexible low carbon electricity production and valuable co-benefits such as heat and hydrogen production. There is a growing UK and international interest in using SMRs. GE Hitachi has received worldwide interest in its BWRX-300 and is already undergoing pre-licensing in the US, Canada and Poland because of its simplicity of design, cost competitiveness and ability to be deployed quickly. Q. How will your latest reactor design, the BWRX300 shape the UK Nuclear industry? The BWRX-300 is a game changer for the UK nuclear industry. It is the simplest, most innovative design that will be cost competitive with gas fired powered plants and renewables and thereby can deployed at pace and scale to meet the challenge of achieving net zero emissions in the UK. The BWRX-300 is built from standardised modules supported by a strong UK supply chain generating UK jobs and providing the opportunity to be a powerful part of the post-Covid resurgence of the UK economy. Q. What are you doing to drive down the costs of nuclear? Simplicity is the key. In designing the BWRX-300, GE Hitachi used its many years of experience and existing licensed technology as a basis to produce a simplified design that has 90% volume reduction in layout and 50% reduction in building volume per MW. This results in 60% less capital cost per MW compared to other water cooled SMRs. GEH innovated where we could simplify and take out cost, whilst maintaining the existing licensed technology to reduce regulatory risk and enable speed to market. In addition, the simplified design reduces operating, maintenance and security costs. Q. Where do you see the nuclear market shifting to in general? As climate change concerns continue to grow, there will be a shift to more nuclear as part of the energy mix. Nuclear power is the second largest source of low-carbon electricity in the world today and the first among OECD countries. We also see nuclear being a major contributor to hydrogen production, industrial applications and district heating. Nuclear has to be competitive with other forms of generation to have a growing role in the future and this is where GE Hitachi has focused its design of the BWRX-300 from the very outset. Q. How vital do you see the nuclear industry in achieving zero carbon targets? Absolutely essential. Nuclear generation produces around 20% of the UK’s electricity and there is a need to build new nuclear capacity to help meet the target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. This challenge becomes even more critical as seven of the UK’s eight nuclear plants are due to close by 2030 and the remaining one is due to be closed by 2035.
