SMRs have significant steel industry potential: panel
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Captive small modular reactors (SMRs) have the potential to become significant suppliers of low-emission energy to industry in Poland, including steelmakers, an industry panel concluded on Tuesday.
ArcelorMittal Poland (AMP), besides other firms in the country, recently signed a letter of intent to study the possibility of setting up SMRs at the steelmaker’s flagship Dabrowa Gornicza steelworks. The study and relevant permissions from authorities will take at least two years to complete and the final investment decision lies with ArcelorMittal, but at least two reactors would be likely, Dawid Jackiewicz, board member at Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE), told Kallanish on the sidelines of the European Economic Congress in Katowice.
OSGE is a joint venture between Polish oil refiner Orlen and chemical producer Synthos, created specifically to decarbonise power, heating and industry by setting up BWRX-300 SMR reactors in Poland developed by US-based Hitachi Nuclear Energy. Last week, the JV secured an unspecified amount of financing from a consortium comprising BGK, Pekao, PKO Bank and Santander Bank Polska, as well as US institutions Exim Bank and the US International Development Finance Corporation.
Besides Dabrowa Gornicza, OSGE has also identified Kraków-Nowa Huta – the location of AMP's Krakow plant – as a potential SMR location.
Panellists at the event agreed now is the right time to invest in nuclear power generation. Thierry Deschaux, EDF managing director in Poland, told delegates the impact of SMRs in Poland will be massive. The French nuclear giant is building two 170 MWe SMRs in the country. The concept may seem new, but PWR reactors, for example, have been used to power ships and submarines for 50 years, he added.
Waclaw Gudowski, nuclear physics professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, meanwhile said SMRs have passive safety mechanisms that do not require operator intervention, meaning they are safer than conventional power plants to build near cities and industrial units. They reduce cost of entry to the market and numerous industrial firms have therefore spotted the opportunity.
However, with Poland possessing no nuclear capability to date, the issue of local competence and skilled labour was touted as a potential barrier to entry. Deschaux quickly rejected this, pointing out that only 10-20% of EDF’s engineers are nuclear specialists, with the remainder being “nuclear aware”. Gudowski added that it will not be a difficult task to retrain Polish thermal engineers in the nuclear discipline.
Jackiewicz reminded the audience that neighbouring Germany has closed its nuclear industry. “We’ll gladly take in their engineers with open arms,” he said. “There won’t be a shortage of skilled workers.” Moreover, OSGE plans to commission in 2027 a training facility for nuclear operators, which will meet the requirement of the Polish as well as wider EU market.
Gudowski concluded by pointing out that SMRs can repurpose the infrastructure of an old coal-fired power station. A US study found that 35% of SMR project cost can be saved this way. Any excess energy produced can meanwhile be used to produce green hydrogen.
Adam Smith Poland