TVA signed a new technical collaboration agreement on Thursday providing that the utility, alongside Ontario Power Generation and Polish Synthos Green Energy, will collectively invest around $400 million to fund the development of GE Hitachi's BWRX-300 reactor. The goal is for the reactor to be deployed at the signatories' new nuclear plants over the next decade.
The BWRX-300 reactor differs from some other prominent next-generation nuclear designs in using legacy boiling water reactor technology while using it on a smaller scale. "We have the technology, we've got a project, we've got a plan to deliver a new clean electricity to our grid before the end of this decade," Todd Smith, Ontario's minister of energy, said during the Thursday ceremony in Washington, D.C.
The agreement to develop a common design means a person could one day visit reactor sites operated by each company and more or less see the same product in action, said Jeff Lyash, president and CEO of TVA.