US-based global multinational materials science company Dow, most famous for its chemical production (concentrated in subsidiary Dow Chemicals), has announced that it had signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with US small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) company X-energy. Under that LoI, Dow and X-energy will work together to deploy the latter’s Xe-100 advanced high-temperature gas SMRs at a Dow industrial site on the Gulf of Mexico coast of the US. Dow will also take a minority shareholding in X-energy.

This SMR nuclear power plant is expected to be operational by around 2030. It will provide both zero-carbon process heat and electricity to the Dow plant. The overall aim is to reduce Dow’s carbon emissions.

“Advanced small modular nuclear technology is going to be a critical tool for Dow’s path to zero-carbon emissions and our ability to drive growth by delivering low-carbon products to our customers,” affirmed Dow chairperson and CEO Jim Fitterling. “X-energy’s technology is among the most advanced, and when deployed will deliver safe, reliable, low-carbon power and steam. This is a great opportunity for Dow to lead our industry in carbon neutral manufacturing by deploying next-generation nuclear energy.”

“Nuclear energy has always offered the promise of broad economy-wide decarbonisation,” highlighted X-energy CEO Clay Sell. “[This] announcement marks an important step in turning that aspiration into reality. Dow has a remarkable 125-year history of bringing innovative solutions to the market, and their leadership is a critical driver in meeting decarbonisation goals in the energy intensive industrial sector. X-energy is proud to combine our leading nuclear technology with Dow’s production capabilities to deliver a global materials supply chain that is safer, cleaner, and greener than ever before.”

In 2020, X-energy was chosen by the US Department of Energy, under its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Programme, to build a four-reactor Xe-100 SMR plant in the US State of Washington. This will be one of the first grid-scale advanced reactor plants to become operational in North America.

The Xe-100 is, by virtue of it being a high-temperature gas reactor, classified as a Generation IV reactor. Each Xe-100 reactor is engineered to have a generation capacity of 80 MWe. Its optimal deployment will be in four-unit nuclear power plants, with a total output of 320 MWe. A single Xe-100 reactor can also produce up to 200 MWt of high-temperature and high-pressure steam for industrial applications.

Dow is also accessing low-carbon electricity from renewable energy sources. Last year, more than 25% of the electricity the group bought was renewable energy. Currently, among global corporations, Dow is one of the top 20 in terms of using low carbon energy.