Aix-en-Provence-based Blue Capsule is developing a sodium-cooled, high-temperature SMR which can provide 150 MW of heat at 700°C, steam/vapour to 650°C, and 50 MW of electricity. The company - a spin-off from France's Alternative Energies & Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) - aims to decarbonise sites used for energy-intensive industries such as cement and metal refining, hydrogen production, and chemical production, with subterranean capsules co-located onsite, close to demand. The reactor is designed to operate for 60 years. Blue Capsule is targeting a cost to the end user of EUR60 (USD71) per MWh for industrial heat.
Blue Capsule is planning to build a proof-of-concept sodium loop and a non-nuclear prototype by 2030. ELISE is the first installation on the company's development roadmap and is set to run for several years.
"ELISE will replicate the conditions of the Blue Capsule high-temperature reactor (HTR), with temperatures reaching 750°C," said the company's Technical Director, Domnin Erard. "This full-size installation will stand at nine metres high when completed, and provide valuable data on thermo-hydraulics and the natural circulation of liquid sodium at high temperatures."
Edouard Hourcade, President of Blue Capsule, said the ELISE installation would be the "first of its kind" in France, and will be opened to other players in the field, "either institutional or commercial ... it is important that the broader nuclear energy sector can benefit from ELISE. But it's also a milestone for our company and a sign of steady progress".
Blue Capsule says the sodium-cooled reactor is to use tristructural isotropic - or TRISO - fuel for optimal safety, while the design is also optimised for more favourable economics due to the lower volume of building materials compared with traditional high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.
In November last year, Blue Capsule announced an agreement with Framatome to advance cooperation on TRISO fuel. Blue Capsule aims to deploy low-enriched (less than 5% enriched) TRISO fuel in its reactors, "given the wide use of low-enriched uranium in the industry, and the export potential of reactors that use LEU".
To date, Blue Capsule has announced partnerships with the CEA, Framatome, Egis, CSTI Groupe, DigIntel and Robatel, and key suppliers such as Laborelec and Mersen.
In May last year, Blue Capsule advanced to Phase 2 (the Preparatory Review) of its technical dialogue with the French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority.
Construction of a non-nuclear prototype is scheduled to begin in 2027-28, with construction of the first-of-a-kind Blue Capsule reactor expected to begin in 2029-30, with deployment in the early 2030s.
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