US-based Westinghouse Electric Company has launched a “game-changing” mid-sized nuclear power plant that is scaled from the company’s existing AP1000 large reactor and could be under construction at a cost of $1bn per unit by the end of the decade.
The company said the AP300 is the only SMR based on reactor technology that is already in operation. It will effectively reuse systems and supply chains from the AP1000, making it “readily deployable” and bringing construction time down to about three years.
Westinghouse expects the new design will get federal approval in 2027 and the first unit may start delivering power to the grid in about 2033. The compact plant would have a generating capacity of 300 MW, making it a suitable replacement for coal plants that are being retired because they are polluting.