May-June 2018 NPJ

Cost Competitive with Gas By Jon Ball, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. Jon Ball Jon Ball is Executive Vice President of Nuclear Plant Projects for GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a position he assumed in November 2015. In this role he leads the development and execution of new plant strategies globally. Jon has been a leader in the nuclear industry for more than 20 years and has a wide-range of experience in manufacturing, global operations, services, quality and P&L leadership. From 2012-2015 Jon served as Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain, where he led more than 1,000 GEH employees worldwide in manufacturing and logistics. Prior to that Jon spent seven years in services where he led both the performance services and field services segments. Before that he spent seven years with Global Nuclear Fuel, a joint venture majority owned by GE, serving in several positions including global supply chain leader, quality manager and lab manager. Jon is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt with a B.S. in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University. A telephone interview on May 7, 2018 by Newal Agnihotri, Editor of Nuclear Plant Journal. BWRX-300: Innovating a new SMR 1. Describe BWRX-300. BWRX-300 is the 10th generation boiling water reactor. That’s where the ‘X’ in the name comes from. It’s a 300 MW electric small modular, light water reactor. It is based on a scaled-down version of the ESBWR, which is the most recent light water reactor certified design in the US. We designed this new reactor to eliminate the possibility of a large break LOCA or loss of coolant accident. By doing that, that’s a significant innovation because we’re able to eliminate the massive structure typically required in a light water reactor associated with all the backup cooling that’s needed in the event of a LOCA. As a result, we’ve been able to dramatically simplify the structure. Simplification is key, ultimately, to reducing costs. Compared to ESBWR, there’s more than 50% less concrete and steel on a per MW basis. We also estimate 40%- 60% less capital cost per MW compared to other leading light water SMRs in the market. The other SMRs in the market are PWR design. The advantage of a BWR SMR is the fact that it is a direct cycle system. PWRs, on the other hand, require that you have a pressurizer, a steam generator. All that equipment must be crammed into the vessel in their SMR designs. None of that equipment is needed in a BWR design. As a result, it’s a more simplified design. There’s less components. Since we’ve eliminated this possibility of a large break LOCA, the structure can be further simplified, so all of that contributes to a very cost- competitive design. 2. Are any other companies in the world going after the BWR design? Most SMRs being developed are integral PWRs and other non-LWR designs. For the BWRX-300, we have partnered with our alliance partner, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (HGNE), who are also boiling water reactor experts. They, of course, have significant expertise in the area of modular construction. We’re leveraging that expertise and their engineering know-how to further this design. 3. Is the collaboration with HGNE in engineering as well? GE and Hitachi have been developing BWR technology for decades. Although we’ve been collaborating with Hitachi for decades, our JV alliance, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) began back in 2007. The GEH alliance is for services and new plants for the global market. Then, HGNE serves the Japanmarket. But we work very closely together, especially on deploying new nuclear technology. HGNE has, for many years, consistently delivered new nuclear projects on schedule, on budget. We’re leveraging that expertise and their ability to design and build modules, both manufacturing and construction. They are also helping in this concept around the LOCA elimination. Our engineering teams are collaborating on the development of this new SMR. 4. Is the Predix technology being utilized in BWRX 300? The ultimate vision is that this will be a fully digital nuclear power plant that will leverage the Predix platform. At this stage, we’re further developing the design concept. We’re still in the early phases. While the digital team hasn’t been directly involved yet that is part of the vision of the overall deployment of this technology. 5. Is this going to be a walk-away reactor in case of an accident? This reactor will be designed to have several days of passive cooling without operator intervention. 24 NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, May-June 2018