Wales is pushing its plans for small nuclear power plants

The Welsh government has selected the UK’s top civilian nuclear managers to revitalize Trawsfynydd, one of the UK’s first nuclear power plants, with a novel small nuclear reactor.

The Cardiff government has hired Mike Tynan, a former UK operations manager of US nuclear engineering company Westinghouse, as the new public development company responsible for realizing the “economic benefits” of small reactors in Trawsfynydd, North Wales. Bottom.

Developers of so-called small modular reactors, including Rolls-Royce, are associated with large nuclear power plants such as the currently 3.2 gigawatt power plant Hinckley Point C, as they can be built in the plant and assembled on site. It states that this can reduce cost and complexity. Somerset construction in good condition. Over budget.

Small reactors have been identified by both the Welsh Minister and the UK Government as potentially important technologies to meet the UK’s 2050 zero emissions target and create new engineering and manufacturing jobs. I did.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged £ 215 million in public funding last year to develop the design of a small modular reactor in the UK as part of the “Green Industrial Revolution”.

Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium fighting to become the first developer to receive UK regulatory approval. Small modular reactor design Last year, Trawsfynydd said it was “very likely” to house the UK’s first factory.

The British engineering company expects that at least 16 small modular reactors can be installed in existing and former nuclear power plants in the UK. We want to complete the first 470 MW turbine by the beginning of the 2030s.

Welsh Government Presentation Last year he set up a nuclear power development company called Cwmni Egino to rebuild Trawsfynydd as a major nuclear power plant and is considering installing a medical research reactor to provide medical radioisotopes to Wales, the UK and Europe. Bottom.

Trawsfynydd was one of the 10 early nuclear power plants in Britain called the Magnox Reactor, which produced electricity from 1965 to 1991 and covered the fuel rods inside the reactor with a magnesium alloy.

Tynan, a former chairman of the Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board, which advises the UK minister independently, has been appointed interim chief executive officer of Cwmni Egino and puts the new company on “solid foundations”. For those familiar with promises.

The Welsh government said it was “in the process of entering into an agreement related to this position”.

He added that the installation of small modular reactors and medical research reactors in Trawsfynydd would “provide an important economic opportunity for North West Wales closely linked to responding to climate emergencies”. I couldn’t ask Tynan for comment.

Tom Samson, CEO of a Rolls-Royce-led consortium, told the Financial Times that “Wales has particularly great potential” for small module reactors, and Hitachi in Japan is planning a major construction. Named as the location for Trawsfynydd and Anglesey. Plans to pull out beyond cost concerns in 2019.

“We continue to speak to stakeholders in both locations,” added Samson.

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