A subsidiary of Tata Chemicals North America has signed a letter of intent with nuclear engineer BWXT Advanced Technologies to explore deploying up to eight micro reactors at its soda ash factory in Green River, Wyoming.
Tata Chemicals Soda Ash Partners has been looking at the feasibility of installing BWXT’s BANR reactors at the factory since September last year.
The letter envisages their potential deployment “by the early 2030s”.
BANR (BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor) is a 50MW high-temperature gas design that is small enough to be transported by truck. BWXT was formerly a subsidiary of US engineer Babcock & Wilcox; it was spun off in 2015.
Tata says it wants to make its soda ash – also called sodium carbonate – a greener product.
Its Green River facility mines the world’s largest reserves of trona ore, the raw material for soda ash which is used in many industrial processes.
The site combines a trona mine and a refining plant that processes the ore into soda ash around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days per year.
Last year, the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) contracted BWXT to assess the viability of microreactors in the state.
WEA executive director Rob Creager called the Tata agreement “an incredibly positive step forward for the expanding nuclear sector in Wyoming”.
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