BWXT's BANR selected for Prodigy's 50 MWe New Brunswick TNPP
The reactor is designed for 75 MWt from 19.75 percent HALEU TRISO fuel, with two units planned at the Belledune site.
Key facts
- BANR won $106.6 million in DOE risk reduction funding under ARDP in 2020
- Army's Janus Program selected BANR for Fort Campbell, Kentucky, using a 20 MWe version
- BWXT filed an NRC regulatory engagement plan in 2022; no major licensing milestones since
- No public records of BANR engagement with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
- Prodigy proposed the First Nations-owned TNPP on September 1; New Brunswick signed an offtake letter of intent
BWX Technologies' BANR reactor has been selected to be paired with the first deployment of a transportable nuclear power plant designed by Prodigy Clean Energy, at Belledune, New Brunswick. BWXT announced the selection on October 5. The project will proceed through a partnership with Prodigy and the Pabineau and Eel River Bar First Nations.
BANR is a modular, factory-fabricated high-temperature gas reactor that BWXT describes as compact and transportable. BWXT said the reactor is intended to produce 75 MWt, or 22 MWe, and is fueled with 19.75 percent high-assay, low-enriched uranium formed into TRISO particles. Two BANR units are planned for the Belledune site, offering up to 50 MWe, BWXT said, and Kinetrics, a BWXT subsidiary, will also be involved.
BWXT and Prodigy said they are working toward a definitive agreement for cooperative project development, engineering, licensing, supply chain integration, financing and deployment of BANR-TNPPs, and will target commercial, industrial and defense energy projects globally for future applications.
Prodigy announced on September 1 that it proposed deploying a full-scale TNPP of up to 50 MWe within the traditional territory of the Pabineau and Eel River Bar First Nations, in the village of Belledune. The plant would be First Nations-owned and serve as a pilot project, with operation targeted for the early 2030s. The Government of New Brunswick signed a letter of intent to offtake the electricity generated by the plant. A TNPP is a factory-built, transportable civil structure that must be paired with a reactor technology.
BWXT was selected in 2020 for $106.6 million in risk reduction funding through the Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, and for the Army's Janus Program, which sited BANR at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where BWXT said a 20 MWe version of BANR will be deployed.
BWXT submitted a regulatory engagement plan for BANR to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2022, when the reactor used a 50-MWt design. It has not reached any major NRC licensing milestones since. No records of engagement with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission are publicly available.
