Dow Goes Nuclear

The chemical company's subsidiary is looking to displace natural gas with small reactors

Dow and X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC announced the submission of a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a proposed advanced nuclear project in Seadrift, Texas, per a March 31 press release from X-Energy.

Dow’s proposed advanced small modular reactor project is being developed by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Long Mott Energy LLC. The project is focused on providing Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations manufacturing site with safe, reliable, and clean power and industrial steam replacing existing energy and steam assets that are near end-of-life. The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program which is designed to accelerate the deployment of advanced reactors through cost-shared partnerships with U.S. industry.

Look for more on the momentum of nuclear reactors within the U.S. and global energy sector in our upcoming April issue of EA.

X-Energy's Xe-100 model is a small modular nuclear reactor with big hopes.--X-Energy photo

Since 2018, X-Energy, and subsequently Dow, have worked with the NRC through extensive pre-application engagements to demonstrate what the makers call "an unparalleled safety profile" of the Xe-100 advanced SMR through "its advanced fuel design, passive safety features, and state-of-the-art analysis techniques." This has culminated in a comprehensive application submittal that X-Energy says "exceeds NRC regulations for the protection of public health and safety, as well as the environment, with substantial safety features." 

Dow’s Seadrift site covers 4,700 acres and manufactures more than 4 billion pounds of materials per year used across a wide variety of applications including food packaging and preservation, footwear, wire and cable insulation, solar cell membranes, and packaging for medical and pharmaceutical products.

The proposed project could begin construction later this decade and start up early next decade. The nuclear power and steam assets would eliminate most Scope 1 and 2 emissions at the site and ensure the site remains competitively advantaged for the life of the facility.

X-energy was selected by the DOE in 2020 to develop, license, and build an operational Xe-100 advanced SMR and TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility. Since that award, X-energy has completed the engineering and preliminary design of the nuclear reactor, has begun development and licensing of a fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and has secured approximately $1.1 billion in private capital to commercialize its technology. Once complete, Long Mott Generating Station is expected to be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America.