Clean, safe, reliable, and capable of powering everything from the grid to heavy industry, X-energy's advanced nuclear technologies are well poised to become a leading player in the global energy market. And as businesses and governments around the world push towards reducing emissions, leaders in both sectors are taking note and growing to appreciate the technology’s full potential.
Today, X-energy CEO Clay Sell joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Dow CEO Jim Fitterling at the University of Texas at Austin to discuss this growing potential and their shared vision for advanced nuclear in the state.
“It is with tremendous pride that we bring this innovative technology to only a short drive from the energy capital of the world to the state of Texas. I do believe the technology that we will demonstrate here will be the first of many hundreds of plants that are built not just in Texas, around the United States around the world. What is happening here in Texas really will change the world,” Sell said.
Texas is widely recognized as a leading source of traditional energy solutions – providing more power than any other state, and more than 10% of the net electricity generated in the country. The state is also on the cutting-edge of innovative, zero-carbon solutions. In fact, Texas is the largest producer of renewable energy in the country, making it the perfect location for X-energy’s advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear project.
Announced in May of this year, this partnership between X-energy and Dow will deliver a first-of-its-kind four-unit Xe-100 plant at Dow’s Seadrift, Texas facility. The project will provide Seadrift with safe, reliable zero-carbon power and steam production, cutting the site’s emissions by approximately 440,000 MT CO2e/year. Funded in part by the Department of Energy’s ARDP program, construction will begin in 2026 and will conclude by the end of the decade.
X-energy is making great strides in turning advanced nuclear power into the default technology for global, zero-carbon emissions energy. This partnership with Dow will showcase the unique versatility and wide range of applications of the Xe-100 advanced small modular nuclear reactors for energy production and manufacturing and serve as a model for decarbonizing industry around the world.
Gov. Abbott said, “This is the type of scenario where we can have big universities like UT and our other outstanding universities in Texas, work in collaboration with these two incredible private sector leaders. This is what Texas stands for. Texas is the leading innovation state in the United States because we got innovators like X energy and what they're doing, and then we put wind at their back. So this is a perfect example of how Texas brings all these folks together.”
“It's my view that based on this incredible technology that we will first bring to the marketplace with Dow in Texas that we this technology will change the way the world thinks about clean, firm dispatchable power that will provide the reliability that the grid needs and the sustainability that customers are demanding from their energy providers.”
J. Clay Sell, CEO, X-energy
"We need 24/7 reliable power. Power needs to be sustainable, reliable, and affordable. And that's where we think new nuclear fits. This is an inherently safer technology than what you're used to seeing. In the utility sector, nuclear is based on light water reactors and you're thinking about large one gigawatt units. One module of the X-energy X-e100 is an 80-megawatt module that generates enough power and steam for us."
Jim Fitterling, CEO, Dow
