Switzerland-based ABB and Swedish nuclear energy company Blykalla have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop advanced nuclear reactor technology. The MoU was signed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm by Blykalla CEO Jacob Stedman and ABB Energy Industries Local Division Manager Vibeke Gyllenram.
ABB, formed from the merger of ASEA of Sweden and BBC of Switzerland in 1988, has 475 offices in 86 countries around the world. Blykalla founded in 2013 and formerly called Leadcold, is a spin-off from KTH.
Under the MoU, ABB will explore how its automation, electrification and digitalisation solutions can support Blykalla’s SMR prototype SEALER-E design, which features a lead-cooled fast reactor. This includes cyber security frameworks to ensure compliance with nuclear safety regulations.
The collaboration will initially concentrate on constructing an electrical small modular reactor (SMR) pilot facility near the coastal town of Oskarshamn to test proof of concept before expanding to future plants.
SEALER (Swedish Advanced Lead-cooled Reactor) is a fast compact reactor with passive safety. Each reactor will have a 55 MWe capacity, which can be increased by installing multiple units at the same location. The reactor designed with the smallest possible core that can achieve criticality in a fast spectrum using 19.9% enriched nitride fuel.
Blykalla says the SEALER is designed for commercial power production in a highly compact format, with unique safety features based on a number of proprietary innovations. These include corrosion-tolerant steel alloys, which enable the efficient cooling of reactors with liquid lead. “With this technological breakthrough, Blykalla can achieve effective serial production, leading to faster deployment and lower costs than conventional nuclear power.”
The SEALER “also enables nuclear power to be used for decarbonizing industrial applications through hydrogen, biochar, and biofuel production, in addition to providing local electricity production”. Blykalla says the technology helps realise a circular waste model. Compared with conventional nuclear power, the SEALER’s fuel cycle can extract up to 140 times more energy from uranium ore, “thereby producing only a fraction of the waste, which needs to be stored for just 1% of the deposit time”.
ABB’s expertise of power distribution, control and automation technologies, as well as system integration, will lay the groundwork for a successful deployment of advanced nuclear technologies as part of the collaboration. Jacob Stedman, CEO of Blykalla, said: “We see strong momentum in Sweden for nuclear power in general, and SMRs in particular. This is why we look forward to bringing our technology to market as part of efforts to enable the transition to a net zero future.”
Together with Uniper, OKG, KTH and the Swedish Energy Agency, Blykalla plans to build an electric research reactor in Oskarshamn. The Swedish Energy Agency has awarded a SEK99m ($9.3m) grant for the project.
NPPs currently provide about 30% of Sweden’s electricity. In November 2023, the government unveiled a roadmap to expand nuclear energy, increasing new capacity corresponding to two large-scale reactors (2,500 MWe) by 2035 and building up to 10,000 MWe by 2045, which could include SMRs.
“The energy transition is one of the greatest challenges but also opportunities of our time and at ABB we are in favour of all low-carbon energy sources including nuclear,” said ABB Energy Industries President Per Erik Holsten.
