The CEO of X-energy said that his company has been told by the U.S. Department of Energy that it will get up to another $1 billion in public funding for a project in Texas with Dow.
Total public funding since 2021 for the project with Dow in Seadrift, Texas, will be up to $2.15 billion, CEO Clay Sell said on an earnings call.
Key points in the Dow / X-energy nuclear project:
- Additional federal backing: X-energy secured up to $1 billion in additional funding from the U.S. Department of Energy through its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, subject to a 50/50 cost-share agreement.
- Nuclear project footprint: The funds will support the installation of four Xe-100 small modular reactors generating 320 megawatts of electricity and industrial steam at Dow Inc.’s Seadrift Operations plant in Texas.
- Regulatory and operational goals: The project, which cleared an Environmental Assessment milestone from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, aims to replace aging fossil-fuel units and begin operations in the early 2030s.
The project is supported by DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, which aims to accelerate the deployment of small reactors through cost-shared partnerships with U.S. industry.
Sell said the new funding will be subject to the same 50/50 cost-share requirements as the original award.
"It is expected to be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America," Sell said on the call. Sell said the DOE grant award "is our largest source of revenue at our current stage of development."
A spokesperson for the DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy confirmed that X-energy will receive up to an additional $1 billion through its ARDP agreement and that it would be subject to the same 50/50 cost-share requirements as the original award.
History of this project
Dow and X-energy last year submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission a construction permit application for the project the companies hope will be operational in the early 2030s.
The project aims to provide power and industrial steam to Seadrift, a petrochemical and plastics plant, replacing its existing energy and steam units.
