The collaboration with Aecon, a construction services provider for Ontario Power Generation's Darlington New Nuclear Project, and AtkinsRealis, the project's architect and engineer, will help GEH leverage valuable insights from the Canadian project. Construction at Darlington is slated for 2025, with operations expected by 2029. These MoUs allow GEH to incorporate lessons learned from Darlington to accelerate progress in the UK.
GEH is also working closely with Jacobs to adapt its design capabilities to the UK environment, while its MoU with Laing O'Rourke, a UK-based company, will tap into the firm's expertise in modern construction methods to support the BWRX-300 program.
These agreements follow a prior collaboration between GEH and Sheffield Forgemasters, exploring how the latter's forgings could play a role in BWRX-300 deployment in the UK.
"Strategic relationships like these lay further foundations for the successful roll-out of our BWRX-300 technology in the UK. These MoUs underscore our desire to work closely with the UK nuclear supply chain as the SMR competition progresses, which can play a key role in helping Britain become a clean energy superpower," said Andy Champ, GEH UK Country Leader.
Champ added, "Given our BWRX-300 reactor is planned for deployment in Canada, collaborating with best-in-class experts across the industry puts us in an even stronger position to reliably deliver this technology for the best value for money. It also furthers our confidence in our ability to work with Great British Nuclear to bring our SMR technology to market."
Thomas Clochard, Executive Vice President, Nuclear and Civil, Aecon Group Inc., commented, "Aecon's extensive nuclear experience and technical knowledge spans five decades, and we are well positioned to play an important role in building the next generation of nuclear infrastructure to ensure clean, reliable, and affordable electricity for future generations."
Joe St Julian, President, Nuclear, AtkinsRealis, added, "AtkinsRealis has been working closely with GEH and our partners at Darlington to deliver the first commercial, land-based SMR in the western world. As a global partner to GEH, we look forward to leveraging our experience at Darlington and bringing our broader knowledge and experience in new nuclear build programs to ensure GEH's nth-of-a-kind UK project delivers efficiently and safely to support the UK government's aspirations of 24GW of nuclear by 2050."
Dawn James, Vice President at Jacobs, expressed: "We will assist GEH to build relationships of trust with government and regulators, de-risk the program and secure the GDA statements on time. Our work with GEH will progress our joint aim of ensuring the UK's energy security and building a more connected and sustainable world."
Allan Gregory, Nuclear Delivery Director at Laing O'Rourke, noted, "As a proud member of the UK's new nuclear supply chain, we are committed to helping the UK Government achieve its 2030 clean energy mission. We are delighted to be working with GEH to support its plans to deploy its BWRX-300 small modular reactor in the UK."
GE Vernova has maintained a long-standing presence in the UK, with four manufacturing sites and technology powering over 30 percent of the nation's electricity. GEH is also working to build a robust UK supply chain for its BWRX-300 project, following a supply chain conference held in Sheffield earlier this year with over 150 businesses.
Earlier this year, GEH received a GPB 33.6 million Future Nuclear Enabling Fund (FNEF) grant from the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. In tandem with the grant, GEH began the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process for its BWRX-300 technology.
Related Links
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Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
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