The United States just cleared another novel nuclear energy project to begin construction.
On Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a joint application by X-energy and Dow Chemical to build four Xe-100 advanced nuclear reactors at a Texas industrial site owned by the Michigan-based chemicals giant. The energy plant, known as Long Mott Generating Station, does not yet have an operating license from the NRC and will not be complete until well into next decade.
The reactors will generate electricity and high-temperature steam for Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations, a facility that makes plastics and petroleum derivatives used in everything from food and beverage packaging to paints and solvents. The Seadrift facility currently relies on aging fossil-fueled equipment.
The NRC took less than 18 months to review the application, a record pace for contested hearings amid a broad-based — and controversial — effort to streamline U.S. nuclear regulation that has been in the works since the Biden administration.
“Getting the construction permit earlier than expected is reflective of the thorough and efficient work of the NRC, the reforms that have been put in place by the Congress over the last six years, and the phenomenal work of the X-energy and Dow teams,” X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell said in a statement.
The approval comes amid a wave of federal support for new nuclear energy projects. S. Department of Energy has funded tens of billions of dollars in grants, awards, and loan guarantees to build new reactors and expand capacity at existing nuclear power plants .
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