Nuclear SMR developer X-energy to merge with Ares Management-backed SPAC, creating $2B company

X Energy Reactor Co., a developer of small modular nuclear reactors and fuel technology, is merging with a special purpose acquisition company backed by private equity firm Ares Management Corp., X-energy announced Tuesday. The deal would establish a combined publicly traded company valued at $2 billion. The company will receive about $1 billion in cash in …

Chinese SMR project enters installation phase

Installation work has started within the reactor building of the Changjiang SMR (Image: CNNC) Equipment installation work has commenced at the ACP100 small modular reactor (SMR) demonstration project at the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China’s island province of Hainan. Welding began in the JR110 room of the R11 area of ​​the nuclear island reactor …

SMR siting work progresses in Canada and Czech Republic

The ceremony to mark the start of site preparations for the SMR at Darlington (Image: Doug Ford – Twitter) Site preparation is now under way for Canada’s first grid-scale small modular reactor (SMR) at Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG’s) Darlington site. Meanwhile, an initial geological survey has been completed for a proposed SMR at the Temelín …

Refurbished OPG reactor cleared to begin fuel loading

Canada’s nuclear regulator has given Ontario Power Generation (OPG) the go-ahead to load fuel into Darlington unit 3 after removing the first regulatory hold-point for the refurbished reactor. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer Ramzi Jammal notified OPG by letter that the OPG has met the conditions for the removal of …

Centrus Energy, DOE finalise HALEU contract

The first phase of the USD150 million contract will see demonstration production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) at Piketon by the end of 2023. Centrus says it could scale up the facility to commercial production capacity, given sufficient funding. The contract signed by Centrus subsidiary American Centrifuge Operating LLC (ACO) and the US Department of …