Vattenfall Shortlisted Two SMR Technologies for Ringhals
Vattenfall (ENS Corporate Member) has decided to shortlist Rolls-Royce SMR and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (also ENS Corporate Member) among six potential suppliers of small modular reactors (SMR) for new nuclear reactors next to the nuclear power plant in Ringhals, Sweden.
The next steps will involve a detailed analysis of the proposals made by the two shortlisted SMR suppliers, and then jointly producing a timetable for the option of building small modular reactors to enable new nuclear power generation on the Värö Peninsula.
In parallel, Vattenfall is continuing to investigate the conditions for building large-scale reactors on the site. The suppliers included in the evaluation of large-scale reactors are Westinghouse, EDF (ENS Corporate Members) and KHNP.
The starting point for Vattenfall’s continued work, regardless of reactor type, is that it should be possible to have a new reactor in operation in the first half of the 2030s at the earliest.
Read the full Vattenfall Press Release.
Ringhals has been selected as a possible site for further Vattenfall’s projects.
In June 2022, the Swedish company started a feasibility study for the deployment of at least two small modular reactor (SMR) units at the site of the Ringhals NPP.
Vattenfall said the study is focusing on this location because more electricity generation is expected to be needed in the region. Moreover, Ringhals would be a suitable location for SMRs because they can replace two shutdown reactors Ringhals-1 and Ringhals-2 within the existing legislation, and there is already grid infrastructure in place that makes connecting new electricity generation simpler.
One year ago, Vattenfall started also exploring the opportunity to produce low-carbon hydrogen at Ringhals, where “there are good conditions for building electrolysers and creating a very flexible production facility for both fossil-free electricity and hydrogen” Andreas Regnell, head of strategy at Vattenfall, said.