NuScale Power and Nucor to explore deployment of small modular reactors to power electric arc furnace steel mills
17 May 2023
NuScale Power Corporation and Nucor Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore co-locating NuScale’s VOYGR small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) power plants to provide clean, reliable baseload electricity to Nucor’s scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel mills.
The companies will also explore an expanded manufacturing partnership through which Nucor, the largest steel producer and recycler of any type of material in North America, would supply Econiq, its net-zero steel products, for NuScale projects.
As part of the MOU, the companies will evaluate site suitability, transmission interconnection capabilities and capital costs for potential NuScale plants to be sited near and provide carbon free electricity to Nucor EAF steel mills. In addition, NuScale will study the feasibility of siting a manufacturing facility for NuScale Power Modules near a Nucor facility.
NuScale power module.
NuScale’s VOYGR power plants, which can be scaled in different plant configurations to produce up to 924 MWe of output (77 MWe per module), are well-suited for industrial applications as a highly reliable source of carbon-free energy. As the first and only SMR design to be approved and certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NuScale’s VOYGR plants include fully passive safety features which eliminate the need for an external grid connection to perform key safety functions and can achieve a site boundary Emergency Planning Zone, improving plant siting flexibility for industrial users such as Nucor.
The agreement strengthens NuScale’s partnership with Nucor, which invested $15 million in NuScale in 2022, and highlights the growing global interest in SMRs among industrial leaders.
The US Department of Energy has identified emissions reductions in the steel manufacturing industry as an important step to reach net-zero by 2050.
The French are also moving towards a build out of SMRs, which judging by their nuclear track record is likely to be significant:
https://www.edf.fr/en/the-edf-group/dedicated-sections/journalists/all-press-releases/edf-announces-that-its-small-modular-reactor-nuwardtm-will-be-the-case-study-for-a-european-early-joint-regulatory-review-led-by-the-french-nuclear-safety-authority-with-the-participation-of
Posted by: Davemart | 17 May 2023 at 12:47 AM
They have just discovered significant amounts of natural hydrogen in Lorraine, in eastern France,
That could be used to decarbonise steel production in Lorraine, and in nearby Luxembourg and the Saar without needing long distance transport.
https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/fde-announces-the-discovery-of-natural-hydrogen-in-the-lorraine-mining-basin/
Posted by: Davemart | 17 May 2023 at 01:35 AM
Hopefully, they will decide to install a NuScale reactor at the Nucor steel mill at Plymouth, Utah. They are already planing a multi-unit facility in nearby Idaho. NuScale reactors should also be a good match with Boston Metal's direct electrolysis integrated steel process.
@Davemart
Not sure what the above topic had to do with the discovery of natural hydrogen in Lorraine, France but I did read the article. Interesting that it exists but it is not clear that there is a significant amount of natural hydrogen compared to amount of hydrogen that is currently used let alone the amount that people project will be needed in the future.
Posted by: sd | 17 May 2023 at 07:18 PM
@sd:
Yep, my link was a bit of a stretch, but I gave it as I was looking through my French links, due to the SMRs they are considering, one of whose missions is to produce hydrogen.
' it is not clear that there is a significant amount of natural hydrogen compared to amount of hydrogen that is currently used let alone the amount that people project will be needed in the future.'
It is not clear that there ain't, either.
And if you put in 'natural hydrogen' then umpteen links turn up claiming that there is no such thing, which is flatly false, or that it is insignificant, which has not been established.
Estimates go all the way from negligible to gigantic, far more than fossil fuels as it appears to be continually produced.
Posted by: Davemart | 17 May 2023 at 10:53 PM
In accordance with the theories of Lewis, Langmuir and Kossel, the chemical affinity of H2 is attributed to the tendency of atoms to fill the vacancies of electrons in the respective ring. The number of possible electrons in a respective ring is determined via the following formula: 2x( n²) whereby n is the number of said ring (1st, 2nd or 3rd etc.)
H2 has only one valence electron in the first ring i.o.w 2x1² = 2. That allows the conclusion that the chemical affinity of H2 to other elements is extremely high. It is , therefore highly unlikely that H2 is found anywhere in its pure state.
Posted by: yoatmon | 18 May 2023 at 05:53 AM
@yoatman:
They have been pumping hydrogen in its pure state for a decade or so in Mali.
Do do some research.
Posted by: Davemart | 18 May 2023 at 09:37 AM
' The work carried out within the framework of the Regalor project has made it possible to demonstrate that the fluids within the carboniferous formations of the Lorraine mining basin are very significantly enriched in hydrogen, with a measured concentration of 15% at 1,093m depth and estimated at 98% at 3,000m depth. '
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/fde-announces-discovery-natural-hydrogen-211700886.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAG2GQUz99bUmctjJyVS7uI_9pE5ggPf05fyG9-oJ6VIhMLoXCWq5mA8lhyNYUCPF1HKm5jG5AOUcm_bhIHznAKaRTZL0CnxxCFT_E_bpbosoRBbQZy2XDmAvltAizwX33wdtWc5Bzi_Dn7zasw_2vR0-35oAo0U4TIl9Eym_oZLE
Presumably data and measured quantities are irrelevant, if they upset an a priori conclusion that it can't exist.
It would be interesting to know what that stuff coming out of the ground in Mali is supposed to be if it can't be hydrogen.
Weirdly, it has all of the characteristics of hydrogen.
But facts are not good enough for some, when they have a bee in their bonnet.
Posted by: Davemart | 18 May 2023 at 02:13 PM
@yoatman:
Natural hydrogen does exist but it is not clear whether or not it will be a significant economic source of new clean energy.
Anyway, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_hydrogen
I will also say that sometimes you do not know what is there until you go looking for it and sometimes new technology is required to exploit it. Look at fracking. Like it or not, it opened vast new sources of oil and gas.
I am somewhat doubtful but will try to keep an open mind.
Posted by: sd | 18 May 2023 at 04:29 PM
sd said:
' Natural hydrogen does exist but it is not clear whether or not it will be a significant economic source of new clean energy.'
Just so.
Interestingly we should have a much tighter assessment within a year or so, and if it works out, exploiting it uses more or less off the shelf technology from the oil and gas industry, so the regulatory authorities permitting it should be possible to rapidly exploit it.
Or it may be a bust!
It seems though that some are going to continue to deny its existence even if it is powering their homes, as it can't exist according to their conclusive theories!
I do hope they don't fall off the edge of the earth....
Posted by: Davemart | 18 May 2023 at 11:57 PM
Just a note on the odds of natural hydrogen being a commercially important resource.
It is improving all the time, as it passes hurdle after hurdle.
At first the question was whether it happens at all, even long after the stuff was coming out of the ground.
Then how much, and where became the question. We are still weak on the theory of exactly what is happening, but some of the processes suggested are tied to old volcanic, as opposed to sedimentary where fossil fuel resources are found. and that is exactly where, for instance, the northern Spain and eastern France resources are located, in ancient cratons:
https://www.renewablematter.eu/articles/article/natural-hydrogen-a-geological-curiosity-or-the-primary-energy-source-for-a-low-carbon-future
If you are finding substantial quantities of hydrogen right where you expect it, then the odds of it being exploitable climb significantly, just as were the reverse the case they would worsen.
To put a SWAG on it, the odds of it being a major exploitable resource may be in the region of 60-70% now, with the latest info in.
Of course, that it highly speculative, and we will have way better info within a year or two, but the point of my comment is that as predictions have panned out so far, then it is not some wildly speculative leap to think it possible or even now, in my view, likely, that this will be a major resource.
We will see,
Posted by: Davemart | 20 May 2023 at 12:21 AM
@ sd:
I had a look at the link you mentioned in your post and revised my attitude but agree with you that I doubt that those quantities will have any significant impact on the energy policies of humanity.
Posted by: yoatmon | 20 May 2023 at 02:54 AM
The joy in heaven is pretty noisy! ;-)
Posted by: Davemart | 20 May 2023 at 11:15 AM