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Modular nuclear hybrid plan unveiled for Wales
Artist's impression of NuScale Power’s small modular nuclear reactor plant
A UK-based energy company is investigating the possible development of a combined wind and nuclear hybrid energy plant in north Wales, harnessing a small modular reactor (SMR).
Shearwater Energy is exploring opportunities to build the project, which would produce 3GWe (gigawatt electrical) of zero-carbon energy and would also produce over three million kilograms of hydrogen per year for use in the transport sector.
It has submitted an outline proposal to the British government
and the devolved governments of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
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Shearwater has also selected the US-based small modular
reactor (SMR) technology being developed by NuScale Power to provide the base
load and load-following energy for the proposed hybrid energy project.
Shearwater has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NuScale Power to
further collaboration in advancing the proposed project.
Under the MOU, Shearwater and NuScale will explore
opportunities for the combined generation of nuclear power based on NuScale’s
leading SMR technology, offshore wind energy and hydrogen production at sites
in the UK, with a flagship opportunity being explored at Wylfa on Anglesey.
NuScale’s assessment of the UK supply chain concluded that
more than 75% of the content of a NuScale plant could be sourced within the UK.
In August 2020, NuScale’s SMR became the first to receive
design approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Its power company
customer will be breaking ground in 2023 on its first project located in the
state of Idaho in 2023.
Simon Forster, chief executive officer of Shearwater said: “Combining
low-carbon generating technologies enables us to achieve similar performance
characteristics to large thermal plants without the high cost, long
construction time and environmental legacy. When fully developed, an SMR-wind
plant at Wylfa will provide 3 GW of reliable, zero-carbon electricity at a
fraction of the cost of a conventional nuclear power station with surplus
energy generation focused on the production of hydrogen to support the
transport sector’s transition to low-carbon fuels. Power generation at Wylfa
could begin as early as 2027.”
The January/February 2026 issue of Construction Management magazine is now available to read in digital format.
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