Kairos Power has announced its plan to deploy a test reactor at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, pending completion of due diligence and the results of discussions with state and local officials. Kairos made the announcement today at the 2020 East Tennessee Economic Council Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration.

Swedish utility Vattenfall and Estonia's Fermi Energia have signed a Letter-of-Intent to further expand their cooperation on small modular reactors (SMRs). For the past year Vattenfall has participated in a feasibility study by Fermi Energia to explore the possibilities for the deployment of such reactors in Estonia.

Ontario Power Generation has committed to being a net-zero carbon company by 2040, and to help the markets where it operates to achieve net-zero carbon economies by 2050. These are the two major goals established in its newly released Climate Change Plan that aims to drive efficient, economy-wide decarbonisation and economic renewal, while protecting the environment. Siting a small modular reactor at its Darlington site is one of the actions to achieve its aims.

The European Commission should include nuclear among the clean energy technologies that will be financed under the Green Deal low-carbon policy, EDF chairman and CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy said today in an online chat with International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol. Several European countries, he noted, are relying on nuclear generation to help them meet their energy and climate goals.

Advanced Reactor Concepts, New Brunswick Power and Moltex Energy have agreed to set up a small modular reactor vendor cluster in New Brunswick. Meanwhile, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has issued a call for proposals for the second round of a programme to accelerate the deployment of SMRs in Canada.
 

Ontario Power Generation has announced it is resuming planning activities for building new nuclear generating capacity at its Darlington site in Ontario. However, it is now considering the construction of a small modular reactor rather than a large conventional reactor, as previously envisaged.

Terrestrial Energy and Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group have started a graphite irradiation testing programme at the High Flux Reactor in the Netherlands. This work is part of broader programme underway for confirmatory testing of components and systems in the Integral Molten Salt Reactor.

NuScale Power has announced a 25% increase in power output for its NuScale Power Module small modular reactor, which it says will lead to significant cost savings. It has also announced options for smaller four-module and six-module plant sizes in addition to its flagship 12-module plant.

Rosatom plans to build a nuclear power plant equipped with an RITM-200 small modular reactor in the village of Ust-Kuyga, in Yakutia, which is in Far Eastern Russia. The land-based small nuclear plant will be able to supply electricity to isolated power systems or remote areas and consumers.

Rolls-Royce and US utility Exelon Generation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to pursue the potential for Exelon to operate small modular reactors both in the UK and internationally. The announcement came as the British engineering company also signed an MoU with Czech utility ČEZ to explore the potential for SMRs in the Czech Republic. The consortium comprises Assystem, Atkins, BAM Nuttall, Jacobs, Laing O'Rourke, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Rolls-Royce and TWI.

British engineering company Rolls-Royce and Czech utility ČEZ have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the potential for small modular reactors in the Czech Republic. Rolls-Royce is leading the UK SMR Consortium, which also includes Assystem, Atkins, BAM Nuttall, Jacobs, Laing O’Rourke, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and TWI. ČEZ has already entered into similar agreements with NuScale and GE Hitachi.

Synthos Green Energy has signed a cooperation agreement with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) to assess the feasibility of the micro modular reactor (MMR) plant design to generate carbon-free hydrogen, heat, and power for use in SGE’s chemical plants. SGE is part of Synthos SA Capital Group, which includes Synthos SA, a chemical manufacturer based in Poland, with operations in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and France. The aim is for the MMR Energy System to replace existing plants that use coal or natural gas.