How small nuclear reactors could help ease Maryland's energy crisis

As Maryland grapples with soaring electricity demand and rising energy costs, a Rockville-based nuclear company is betting that a new generation of small reactors could eventually help power the state — even as its first projects are being developed hundreds of miles away.

X-Energy Inc., with a Rockville headquarters and Frederick testing center, has plans in Texas and Washington state to generate electricity for chemicals giant Dow Inc. and retail behemoth Amazon. But its technology could be a fit for Maryland’s energy landscape, the company said in a recent interview with The Baltimore Sun.

The company is among developers of a range of new nuclear reactor technologies touted as compact, safe and flexible enough for a variety of sites but not yet in commercial use in the United States.

“Small modular reactors” cost less to build than traditional plants but can operate around the clock to generate carbon-free electricity, proponents say. Much smaller than conventional nuclear plants (typically under 300 megawatts), SMRs can be factory-built and assembled on-site, potentially reducing costs and construction time. They can be added in stages as electricity demand grows.

Only two commercial small modular reactor projects are operating worldwide: Russia’s Akademik Lomonosov, the only floating nuclear plant, and China’s HTR-PM, the first commercial high-temperature, gas-cooled modular reactor. Other SMRs remain under construction, in licensing, or in development.

But skeptics of SMRs say many of their purported benefits remain unproven commercially, while non-utility developers face a host of practical and regulatory hurdles, such as financing massive energy projects.

“A nuclear power plant has never been built in the U.S. except by a regulated utility company,” said Tim Judson, executive director of the Mount Rainier, Washington-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which works with grassroots groups around the country concerned about nuclear power radioactive waste.

Projects are “tremendously expensive, take a very long time, and no one has managed to finance a nuclear power plant in an emerging power market like Maryland,” where utilities have delivered power and independent companies have generated it since market deregulation in 1999.

Even so, the state is ramping up a new nuclear program and preparing for what could be its first SMR proposals next year. And the state is on the nuclear industry’s radar.

Baltimore-based Constellation, for one, the nation’s largest operator of nuclear plants, is in talks with developers about co-locating modular reactors at power plants across its U.S. portfolio, including at Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center in Calvert County. No deals have been announced.

“New nuclear and SMRs are going to be part of America’s future, and, we’re very hopeful, also part of Maryland’s future,” said David Dardis, a Constellation senior executive vice president and chief external affairs and growth officer. “Maryland has some pretty great advantages.”

“New nuclear” is a broad term for a new generation of nuclear energy technologies and business models that differ from the large, traditional nuclear power plants built mainly between the 1960s and 1990s.

Locating small reactors at existing plants makes sense, Dardis said. Calvert Cliffs would offer adjacent land, existing electrical infrastructure and water, used as a coolant.

X-energy also sees strong potential in consumer and industrial markets, company officials said. The developer has no plans currently to build in Maryland.

But a nuclear industry ecosystem of developers and suppliers has taken hold in “a great nuclear state,” where Calvert Cliffs’ nuclear power supplies 40% of in-state electricity, said Ben Reinke, X-energy’s senior vice president of global business development and deputy chief commercial officer.

“Today, [power ] reliability comes from existing nuclear plants and then …from fossil fuel plants,” he said. “As we look to a clean energy future in Maryland, reliability will need to come from nuclear … with renewables taking a larger portion of the grid as well.”

“We really do believe that SMRs are going to play a key role in enabling a more reliable, affordable and flexible grid in Maryland.”

In Maryland, aggressive clean energy goals have remained in place as power demand grows faster than new power plants and transmission lines can be built.

To usher in new nuclear, viewed as a crucial part of solving the state’s energy crisis long term, the state launched a nuclear procurement program under last year’s Next Generation Energy Act. Proposals must go through the Maryland Public Service Commission and would be eligible for state and federal funds. The PSC is expected to adopt regulations by July 1, 2027 and is considering recommendations from a working group of utilities, state agencies, consumer representatives and other stakeholders.

The program “puts Maryland on the map for new advanced nuclear,” and shows projects “are important to the future of the state and over the long term a viable path to reliable and clean energy,” said Ryan Opsal, director of energy policy and research for the Maryland Energy Administration.

A proposed schedule calls for the state to open three nuclear application periods by January 2032, with the first opening in the third quarter of next year. That would be followed by reviews, with an estimated operational date between 2038 and 2043. Two later rounds would follow. The year-old law requires the state to pursue cost-sharing arrangements with neighboring states and agreements with federal agencies for reactors built on or near military and national security installations and at other federal facilities.

“The hope is that here in Maryland, we can get maybe a few units in places … that make the most sense for the state,” Opsal said. “We’re trying to get as much supply on as quickly as possible.”

Several SMR projects are in development, licensing or construction preparation around the United States.

Any project at Calvert Cliffs would require community and state support and a large customer — most likely a data center to help pay for development, Dardis said. That could be challenging as data centers face opposition across the state, he said.

“These new nuclear units require billions of dollars of investment, and there are really only [a] few customers that have the balance sheets that can support this new development,” he said. “We believe data centers can be built responsibly in the state.”

X-energy is making the case that in Maryland and elsewhere, the company’s proprietary reactor fuel safety features will allow it to serve a range of users, such as power for the grid, industrial customers and data centers. The company says its fuel is made from extremely high-temperature-tolerant ceramics and relies more on air than water for cooling.

“That means that you can site these much closer to other infrastructure, where people live, where people work,” Reinke said.

One example is a first-of-its-kind project, now in construction permit phase with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to build four of its 80-megawatt reactors for Dow at a petrochemical manufacturing site in Texas. That project, and another being planned for Amazon with an existing nuclear plant operator in Washington state, are expected online in the early 2030s.

However, Judson of NIRS says SMR safety remains untested. His group is working with San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, an organization in Texas that has raised safety concerns with the NRC about X-energy’s proposal.

“There’s no such thing as an inherently safe nuclear reactor,” Judson said.

X-energy has so far worked with key large customers as opposed to a more traditional rate-regulated structure where power companies’ rates are set by government agencies. A partnership with Amazon, an investor in X-energy, includes the company’s purchase of 5 gigawatts of nuclear energy for various needs over 15 years.

“Having end-user customers be a part of the project makes a lot of sense in how we’ve structured projects to date,” Reinke said.