ENERGY
How GE Vernova plans to deploy small nuclear reactors across the developed world

PUBLISHED SAT, NOV 30 2024 • 8:05 AM EST
Spencer Kimball
@SPENCEKIMBALL

KEY POINTS

• GE Vernova’s small modular reactor, BWRX-300, could play a role in developing more nuclear power over the next decade.

• The General Electric spinoff is targeting more than $2 billion in annual revenue from its small reactor business by the mid-2030s.

• The company sees demand for as many as 57 small reactors in total across its target markets in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe by 2035.

• In addition to active conversations with utilities to build an order book, GE Vernova is also seeing interest from major tech companies.


A concept image of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300 small modular reactor.
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor incorporates proven components.
Courtesy: GE Verona

GE Vernova is aiming to deploy small nuclear reactors across the developed world over the next decade, staking out a leadership position in a budding technology that could play a central role in meeting surging electricity demand and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The company’s small modular reactor, or SMR, is designed to reduce the cost of building new nuclear plants, said Nicole Holmes, chief commercial officer at GE Vernova’s nuclear unit GE Hitachi.

GE Vernova is the spinoff of General Electric’s former energy business. The company’s stock has more than doubled since listing on the New York Stock Exchange last April, with investors seeing the Cambridge, Mass.-based company playing a key role in the future of the power industry through a portfolio of divisions that span nuclear, natural gas, wind and carbon capture.

The U.S. government wants to triple nuclear power by 2050 to shore up an electric grid that is under growing pressure from surging power demand. But large nuclear projects, in the U.S. at least, are notoriously plagued by multi-billion dollar budgets, cost overruns, delayed construction timelines and, sometimes, cancellations.

“Affordability has been the real challenge for nuclear through the many years,” Holmes told CNBC. “We’re beginning to crack that at this point.”

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