Skip to main content

Dow and X-energy advanced mobile reactor at an industrial site under US DOE the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program

Dow has partnered with X-energy under the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) Cooperative Agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to install their Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) plant at one of Dow's sites on the US Gulf Coast.

(image source:unsplash.com)

This collaboration aims to provide safe, reliable, and low-carbon power and steam to the site within this decade. The Joint Development Agreement (JDA) includes up to $50 million in engineering work, with half of it to be funded by Dow and the other half eligible for funding through ARDP. The JDA also involves the preparation and submission of a Construction Permit application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).


Dow's Chairman and CEO, Jim Fitterling, stated that the use of X-energy's nuclear technology will enable Dow to reduce its carbon emissions and deliver lower-carbon footprint products to its customers and society. The parties expect to finalize site selection in 2023, subject to DOE review and approval. Dow and X-energy plan to undertake further ARDP-related work under the JDA as the project progresses. The companies have also agreed to develop a framework to jointly license and utilize the technology and learnings from the project, allowing other industrial customers to leverage Xe-100 industrial low carbon energy technology.


X-energy's HTGR technology is more advanced than existing light water and other small modular reactors, as it can support broad industrial applications through its high-temperature heat and steam output, which can be integrated into and address the needs of both large and regional electricity and/or industrial manufacturing systems. The four-reactor Xe-100 nuclear plant will provide a Dow facility with cost-competitive, low-carbon process heat and power to make essential products used by consumers and businesses every day. X-energy's modular design is road-shippable, which is intended to drive scalability, accelerate construction timelines and create more predictable and manageable construction costs.


X-energy was awarded up to $1.2 billion under the ARDP in federal cost-shared funding to develop, license, build, and demonstrate an operational advanced reactor and fuel fabrication facility by the end of the decade. Since the award, X-energy has completed the engineering and basic design of the nuclear reactor, advanced development of a fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and is preparing to submit an application for licensure to the NRC. The collaboration between Dow and X-energy serves as a leading example of how the industrial sector can safely, effectively, and affordably decarbonize and reduce emissions in the energy-intensive industrial sector.


source:(X-energy.com)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Amsterdam Strikes Geothermal Gold: Hot, Thick, Permeable Reservoir Confirmed

Breakthrough Beneath the Beach: Amsterdam Region Hits Geothermal Paydirt at Strandeiland By: Robert Buluma The Netherlands just took a giant leap toward fossil-free heating. On the artificial island of Strandeiland (part of Amsterdam’s fast-growing IJburg district), the SCAN exploration well has officially confirmed what the geothermal community has been hoping for: a thick, hot, and , most importantly permeable reservoir in the Slochteren Formation. Key numbers that matter:   Reservoir thickness: 152 meters   Bottom-hole temperature: 66 °C   Permeability: confirmed via successful production and injection tests   That’s not screaming-hot by Icelandic standards, but for direct-use district heating in one of Europe’s densest urban areas, 66 °C is more than enough to supply thousands of homes with clean, baseload heat – forever. Why This Well Changes Everything for the Netherlands The Dutch government launched the SCAN program (Seismic Campaign Nethe...

Zanskar’s Big Blind: First Blind Geothermal Discovery in 30 Years

Big Blind: The Geothermal Discovery That Changes Everything By: Robert Buluma Utah startup  Zanskar Geothermal quietly dropped one of the most important announcements in American energy in decades. They discovered and confirmed “Big Blind” ,the first completely blind, commercial-grade geothermal system found in the United States in over thirty years. Let that sink in. No hot springs.   No fumaroles.   No steaming ground.   No prior wells.   Zero surface expression whatsoever. Just desert, sagebrush, and – 7,000 feet below,  a reservoir hot enough and permeable enough to support gigawatt-scale power production. This isn’t incremental progress. This is a paradigm breaker. Why “Blind” Discoveries Matter So Much For the last 40 years, geothermal development in the U.S. has been geographically handcuffed. You could only build plants where nature advertised the resource on the surface – think Yellowstone, The Geysers, or Imperial Valley. Ever...

Eavor’s Geretsried Closed-Loop Geothermal Plant Now Powers the Grid

Eavor Technologies Achieves Historic Milestone: World’s First Commercial-Scale Closed-Loop Geothermal System Now Delivering Power in Geretsried, Germany Published: December 2025 By:  Robert Buluma The Day Geothermal Changed Forever On a crisp Bavarian morning in late 2025, a quiet revolution in clean energy officially went live.   Eavor Technologies Inc ., the Calgary-based pioneer of closed-loop geothermal technology, announced that its flagship commercial project in Geretsried, Germany has begun delivering power to the grid becoming the world’s first utility-scale multilateral closed-loop geothermal system to achieve commercial operation. For anyone who has followed the geothermal sector for the last decade, this is nothing short of seismic (pun intended). What Makes Eavor’s Closed-Loop System Truly Disruptive? Traditional geothermal plants rely on naturally occurring hot water reservoirs or enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) that require hydraulic fracturing and massiv...

Potsdam Goes Deep: How an All-Electric Drilling Rig Is Turning the City’s Heating Completely Fossil-Free

Revolutionizing Urban Heating: UGS GmbH's Pioneering Geothermal Project in Potsdam By: Robert Buluma In the heart of Germany’s energy transition, a quiet but powerful revolution is taking place in Potsdam. UGS GmbH, a German subsidiary of the French energy storage specialist Geostock, has begun a landmark geothermal project that could redefine how entire cities stay warm in winter ,without burning a single drop of oil or cubic meter of gas. The project, awarded by the local utility Energie und Wasser Potsdam GmbH (EWP), focuses on the former site of the HKW Süd combined heat and power plant in southern Potsdam. The goal is ambitious: replace the aging gas-fired plant with deep geothermal energy and other renewables, eventually supplying tens of thousands of households with completely CO₂-free district heating. At the center of this transformation stands a piece of machinery that looks like something from the future: UGS’s fully modernized, all-electric drilling rig “Rig 110”. After...

Exclusive Interview: An In-Depth Look at Exergy’s Game-Changing Gemini Turbine

Exclusive interview with Exergy : discover the new Gemini dual-flow radial outflow turbine, the first single-unit ORC solution for 30–60 MW geothermal projects, offering up to 30 % lower costs and 99 % availability. By:  Robert Buluma .   An interview with  Luca Pozzoni -  Deputy CEO | Group CFO - Exergy International and the Exergy Team 1. Can you walk us through the key design innovations in your new Gemini turbine and how it differs from previous models? The major innovation of the Gemini turbine lies in the dual-flow configuration: unlike conventional radial outflow turbines which are equipped with a single bladed overhung rotor disk, the Gemini features a double-side bladed rotor disk mounted in a between-bearing configuration. This enables the efficient processing of significantly larger volumes of fluid, leading to higher power output having basically two radial outflow turbines in a single machine with enhanced operational stability and simplified mainte...

Geothermal-Powered Greenhouses: Qingyun County's Leap Toward Sustainable, Year-Round Agriculture in Shandong

Harnessing Geothermal Energy to Power Modern Agriculture: How Qingyun County Is Redefining Sustainable Food Production in Shandong By:  Robert Bulum a As winter tightens its grip across northern China, most agricultural regions brace for declining productivity, rising energy costs, and increased environmental pressure. Yet in Qingyun County, located in China’s eastern Shandong Province, a different story is unfolding,one where geothermal energy is quietly transforming agriculture into a resilient, low-carbon, high-yield enterprise. At the heart of this transformation lies the Shandong Shuifa Aerospace Modern Agriculture Industrial Park, where geothermal energy has become a critical enabler of year-round food production, economic efficiency, and environmental sustainability. A Warm Oasis in the Depth of Winter Shortly after the Minor Snow solar term, temperatures outside the greenhouses in Qingyun County drop sharply. Inside the intelligent greenhouse complex, however, conditions re...

American Critical Resources and Plum Acquisition Corp. IV Sign LOI for SPAC Merger to Advance U.S. Geothermal Lithium Project

Revolutionizing Energy: The Synergy of Geothermal Power and Lithium Extraction at Hell's Kitchen Posted by  Robert Buluma  on December 20, 2025 In an era where the world is racing toward sustainable energy solutions, the intersection of geothermal power and lithium production is emerging as a game-changer. As electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy storage, and advanced technologies demand ever-increasing supplies of critical minerals, innovative projects are stepping up to meet the challenge. One such groundbreaking initiative is the Hell's Kitchen project by American Critical Resources (ACR), a subsidiary of Controlled Thermal Resources Holdings Inc. (CTR) . This California-based endeavor not only harnesses the Earth's natural heat for clean electricity but also extracts lithium a vital component in batteries ,directly from geothermal brines. With a recent announcement of a proposed business combination with Plum Acquisition Corp. IV (Nasdaq: PLMK), a special purpose ac...

🔥 Krafla Magma Testbed: Drilling Into the Earth’s Fiery Heart

Krafla Magma Testbed (KMT) : Humanity’s Bold Leap Into the Heart of the Earth Interview  from Bjorn Gudmundsson the C.E.O-Krafla Magma Testbed and Team By:  Robert Buluma In 2009, deep beneath Iceland’s iconic Krafla volcano, a drilling team made history. During the IDDP-1 project, their drill bit pierced into magma molten rock at just two kilometers below the surface. What began as an accident became a scientific revelation. For the first time, humans had safely accessed magma. This “Eureka” moment gave birth to an idea so daring it almost sounds like science fiction: the creation of a permanent observatory where magma could be directly studied. That idea became the  Krafla Magma Testbed (KMT) a visionary international project that promises to rewrite the future of geothermal science, volcanic monitoring, and sustainable energy. Why Krafla? The Perfect Laboratory Beneath Our Feet Krafla’s  geology is unique. It offers a known shallow magma body, decades of research...

Europe’s Underground Energy Revolution: EGEC Demands 250 GW Geothermal by 2040

Europe’s Geothermal Revolution Is Coming: EGEC Demands a 250 GW Target by 2040 – Here’s Why 2026 Will Be Make-or-Break By: Robert Buluma Published: December 9, 2025   On 5 December 2025, the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) dropped a bombshell policy paper with a crystal-clear message to Brussels: Europe is sleeping on the biggest indigenous, baseload, 24/7 renewable energy source under its feet , and it’s time to wake up. Titled ,The European Geothermal Strategy and Action Plan , Making Europe competitive, secure and affordable, the document is the strongest industry call yet for the European Commission to publish a dedicated European Geothermal Strategy and Action Plan in Q1 2026. And the ambition is massive: 250 GW of installed geothermal capacity by 2040 a six-fold increase from today’s ~44 GW (mostly district heating and a handful of power plants). Why Now? Because Europe Can No Longer Afford to Wait Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe has been laser-focu...

Chevron’s Big Pivot: Betting Billions on Geothermal and Biofuels

Chevron CEO Sees Growing Potential in Biofuels and Geothermal Energy Posted by  Robert Buluma | December 11, 2025 The energy world is changing fast, and Chevron, one of the oldest and largest oil companies on the planet, is not sitting on the sidelines. In a recent wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth made it clear: the company sees major, long-term growth in two areas that have nothing to do with crude oil,biofuels and geothermal energy. For a company built on drilling for hydrocarbons, this pivot toward heat from the Earth’s core and fuels grown from plants is nothing short of remarkable. From Black Gold to Green Heat: Why Chevron Is Betting Big on Geothermal Geothermal energy has long been the quiet, reliable cousin in the renewable family,always there, rarely flashy, but suddenly very attractive. Unlike solar panels that go dark at night or wind turbines that stop when the air is still, geothermal plants deliver steady, 24/7 baseload p...