The companies have identified EDF and Centrica’s Hartlepool site as the preferred first site for the development of the Xe-100 reactors. It would be developed adjacent to Hartlepool’s existing nuclear power station which is currently scheduled to be decommissioned in 2028.
Centrica will provide initial project capital for development with the goal of initiating full-scale activities in 2026. Subject to regulatory approval, the first electricity generation would be expected in the mid-2030s.
Centrica and X-energy are already in discussions with additional potential equity partners, as well as global engineering and construction companies, to establish a UK-based development company to develop this first and subsequent projects.
In Canada, Ontario Power Generation is building the country’s first small modular reactor. The TBM that will bore a 3.4km-long condenser cooling water tunnel was delivered in August.
