Dow wants to supply its Texas manufacturing complex with new nuclear reactors instead of natural gas

Dow, a large producer of chemicals and plastics, wishes to use new generation nuclear reactors for clean power and vapor in a Texas manufacturing complex instead of natural gas.

The DOW subsidiary, Long Mott Energy, applied itself on Monday to the American nuclear regulatory committee for a construction permit. He said that the project with X-Energy, an advanced nuclear reactor and a fuel company, would almost eliminate emissions associated with energy production and steam in its Seadrift factory, Texas, avoiding 500,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, reuming the planet.

If it is built and exploited as planned, it would be the first advanced American commercial nuclear power plant for an industrial site, according to the CNRC.

For many, nuclear energy emerges as a response to respond to a national electricity demand for the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence, manufacturing and electrification, and to avoid the worst effects of a warming planet. However, there are security and security problems, the Union of Scientists concerned warns. The question of how to store dangerous nuclear waste in the United States is also not resolved.

Dow wants four of the small advanced modular reactors of X-Energy, the XE-100. Combined, they could provide up to 320 megawatts of electricity or 800 megawatts of thermal power. X-Energy CEO, J. Clay Sell, said the project would demonstrate how new nuclear technology can meet the massive growth in electricity demand.

The Seadrift Manufacturing Complex, at around 4,700 acres, has eight production plants belonging to Dow and a property in Braskem. There, Dow makes plastics for a variety of uses, including packaging food and drinks and insulation of cables and cables, as well as glycols for antifreeze, polyester fabrics and bottles, and oxide derivatives for health and beauty products.

Edward Stones, Energy and Climate Trade Chairman in Dow, said that submission of permit application is an important step in widening access to safe, clean, reliable and costly nuclear energy in the United States. The project is supported by the advanced demonstration program for reactors of the Ministry of Energy.

The CNRC expects the exam to take three years or less. If a license is issued, construction could start at the end of this decade so that the reactors were ready in the early 2030s, as natural gas equipment was removed.

In total, four candidates asked the NRC for construction permits for advanced nuclear reactors. The CNRC issued a license to the Abilene Christian University for a research reactor and Kairos Power for a reactor and two versions of reactor testing this company. He examines a request for Bill Gates and his energy company, Terrapower, to build an advanced reactor in Wyoming.