To reduce errors, engineering costs, licensing complexity, and schedule risk, TerraPraxis is providing a repeatable system that will convert 2,400 coal plants around the world to nuclear. “We need a system that can be delivered to a sufficiently large number of sites but that can accommodate a variety of site conditions and quickly, repeatably, and without new safety reviews each time,” said Gogan.
The TerraPraxis solution consists of standard reactor units that go into a standardized set of seismically isolated buildings equipped with the proper safety systems. “The high-temperature gas reactors can be linked to the existing plant and the thermal storage energy system. There’s also the possibility to repurpose the existing coal plant infrastructure and retrain the existing workforce,” said Ingersoll.
Added Gogan, “Fundamentally, this is about lowering all the barriers to entry, making this a very investable and easy decision for coal plant owners. Or, project developers can decide to deploy these standardized building systems designed for new, clean steam generation and supply that to existing coal plants and to other industrial applications as well.”
To achieve its vision, TerraPraxis has assembled a world-class consortium of partners including Bryden Wood, Microsoft, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and University at Buffalo, along with a consortium of global utilities. Find out more about the
Repowering Coal initiative.