Big announcement could help make new WA modular nuclear reactor a reality
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- X-energy, which plans nuclear reactor near Tri-Cities, makes financial decision
- Energy Northwest plans the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility near Richland
- Facility could expand to 960 megawatt generating capacity
X-energy, the company developing an advanced small modular reactor for the Tri-Cities area, has announced plans to take the company public.
More funding for the company could help ensure that the Tri-Cities area will get a second nuclear power reactor.
Energy Northwest, which is working with Amazon to deploy an X-energy reactor on the land it leases near Richland, now operates the Pacific Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power reactor, the Columbia Generating Station.
X-energy has announced that it has submitted a draft registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.
The company, based in Rockville, Md., has not revealed the number of stock shares to be offered, and the price range has not been determined.
The proposed initial public offering remains subject to the completion of the SEC review process as well as market and other conditions, X-energy said.
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However, Renaissance Capital, a global investment banking firm, has estimated that X-energy could raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering.
The proposed offering will be made only by means of a prospectus, according to X-energy.
Texas project
X-energy had initially planned to deploy its first X-energy reactor near the Tri-Cities, but now plans its first advanced small modular reactor project to produce nuclear power at Dow’s Seadrift Operations manufacturing site on the Texas Gulf Coast.
But Energy Northwest is second in line for an X-energy advanced small modular reactor on unused Hanford nuclear site land leased from the federal government 10 miles north of Richland near Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station.
The new project, the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility, could be producing power in the mid 2030s.
Amazon, which has agreed to pay for the initial feasibility phase to develop an X-energy reactor near the Tri-Cities, will have the right to buy electricity from the initial four modules proposed, which would generate 320 megawatts of energy capacity.
However, the facility will be licensed and permitted before the first modules begin operation for an additional eight modules for a total energy capacity of 960 megawatts.
Columbia Generating Station has a total generating capacity of up to 1,207 megawatts, or enough electricity to power about 1 million homes.
All modules could be operating within three to four years of the initial modules, with electricity available in addition Amazon’s usage.
By comparison, Columbia Generating Station has a total generating capacity of up to 1,207 megawatts, or enough electricity to power about 1 million homes.
The initial small modular reactor plant is expected to employ 1,000 workers for construction and then at least 100 workers during operations, including operators and engineers.
Last month a ribbon-cutting ceremony opened an educational small modular reactor simulator in Richland to give students hands-on experience with operational scenarios modeled on X-energy’s Xe-100 Advanced small modular reactor technology.
Students from Columbia Basin College in Pasco and WSU in the Tri-Cities and Pullman can learn advanced reactor operating skills thanks to a Department of Energy grant and a collaboration of CBC, WSU Tri-Cities and Energy Northwest.