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Small nukes to power Dow plant south of Houston
Dow CEO Jim Fitterling has said small modular reactors can deliver clean, compact energy at a reasonable cost — a cluster of the small reactors at its South Texas plant could bring an industrial facility to net-zero emissions.
Dow plans to develop its first set of small modular nuclear reactors at its facility in Seadrift, about 150 miles south of Houston, in partnership with Maryland-based nuclear developer X-energy Reactor Co.
The four-reactor project is part of the Michigan-based chemical giant's mission to grow its production while reducing emissions at its manufacturing facilities. Dow CEO Jim Fitterling has said small modular reactors can deliver clean, compact energy at a reasonable cost — a cluster of the small onsite reactors could bring an industrial facility to net-zero emissions.
The company had previously announced that it would deploy the technology at one of its Gulf Coast facilities, but it hadn't identified the site. The reactors could significantly reduce the emissions at Dow's growing Seadrift facility, which spans 4,700 acres and manufactures more than 4 million pounds per year of polyethylene plastic and other materials used in food packaging, cable insulation, solar cells and pharmaceuticals.
"This project will serve as a model for how we can decarbonize processes to create the products relied upon by people all over the world," X-energy CEO Clay Sell said in a statement.
The reactors in Seadrift are expected to come online by 2030. The U.S. Department of Energy plans to contribute as much as $25 million toward the project's engineering work as part of its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.
The project would help Dow solve two problems at the site: the need for clean, reliable power and for steam. One of the modular units would produce about 75 megawatts of electricity and 200 megawatts of high-pressure steam, Fitterling said during the World Petrochemical Conference in March.
"Advanced nuclear has attractive advantages over other sources of clean power," he said Thursday in a statement, "including a compact footprint, competitive cost, and enhanced power and steam reliability."