Dow goes nuclear in Texas with project focused on decarbonization

Dow Inc.'s production site in Seadrift, Texas, will be the location of a proposed advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear project.

The reactor will be built by X-Energy Reactor Co. LLC, a developer of advanced nuclear reactors and fuel technology for clean energy generation based in Rockville, Md. Materials made in Seadrift by Midland, Mich.-based Dow include polyethylene resins and ethylene feedstocks. Braskem SA also operates a major polypropylene resin unit at the site.

In a news release, officials with Dow and X-Energy said that the Seadrift location was selected to deliver safe, reliable, zero carbon emissions power and steam production. They added that the site's power and steam needs match capabilities of X-Energy's Xe-100 small modular reactor.

The two firms will prepare and submit construction permit applications to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the decade.

Dow and X-Energy previously announced a joint development agreement (JDA) to install an advanced SMR nuclear plant at an industrial site in North America. The U.S. Department of Energy named Dow a sub-awardee under X-energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program Cooperative Agreement.

The JDA provides for up to $50 million in engineering work, up to half of which is eligible to be funded through that agreement, and the other half by Dow. The project is expected to reduce the Seadrift site's emissions by approximately 440,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Construction on the four-reactor project is expected to begin in 2026. Dow's Seadrift site covers 4,700 acres and manufactures more than 4 million pounds of materials per year used across a wide variety of applications including food packaging and preservation, footwear, wire and cable insulation, solar cell membranes, and packaging for medical and pharmaceutical products.

X-Energy was selected by the DOE in 2020 to develop, license, build, and demonstrate an operational advanced reactor by the end of the decade. Since that award, the firm has completed engineering and basic design of the nuclear reactor and has begun development and licensing of a fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

"Advanced nuclear has attractive advantages over other sources of clean power, including a compact footprint, competitive cost and enhanced power and steam reliability," Dow Chairman and CEO Jim Fitterling said. "The Seadrift site plays an important role in further advancing Dow's sustainability goals, as evidenced by our increasing growth and investment at the site."

He added that Dow also is working on decarbonization projects in Canada and the Netherlands. "We are positioned to drive growth by delivering sustainable products," Fitterling said.

X-Energy CEO Clay Sell added that his firm "will deliver our innovative technology to the Texas Gulf Coast to efficiently and reliably decarbonize the Seadrift Site's heat and power assets."

He added that X-Energy "will showcase the unique versatility and wide range of applications of the Xe-100 advanced small modular nuclear reactor for energy production and manufacturing."