US nuclear firm X Energy outlines plans for coast-to-coast 'northern nuclear deployment strategy' at Hull net zero event

The firm also hopes to create a plant to construct this fuel in the North West of England.

The firm has chosen Teesside for its first UK reactor due to the existing EDF plant which is located nearby and is due to close in 2026.

It also claims that it believes there is scope for ten similar sites across the UK.

Speaking on the choice, X Energy UK corporate affairs director, Leon Flexman, said: “We’ve taken the decision to target our first potential site as hartlepool, and the reason for that is because its right on the doorstep of EDF’s existing reactor, and it falls right in the Teesside industrial cluster.

“It also gives us access to the existing skill set from EDF. There is an understanding of how to use this kind of technology there, so there’s a good continuity story that supports us and would support EDF in terms of those skills and the supply chain that is already in place.”X Energy has currently signed a memorandum of understanding with EDF to explore the potential for deploying a reactor on its site, and has begun recruiting.

The firm has also made an application to the UK Government for funding to help with its plans including supply chain development and access to the regulator.

X Energy’s TRISO-X fuel consists of balls around the size of a snooker ball which are filled with thousands of kernels of uranium encased in triple layers of carbon ceramic material.

The developers claim this has been tested in temperatures significantly higher than a reactor could ever reach, effectively making the fuel safe in a situation which would otherwise result in a meltdown.

In the US, the firm has broken ground on a site in Tennessee to create the fuel, and will build its first reactor on the Gulf Coast in Texas.

This will consist of four of the companies Xe-100 reactors, which are designed to work together to create 320 megawatts of electric power and 800 megawatts of thermal.

The firm has an agreement with the Dow Chemical Company to create both electricity and steam for its facility there, as well as producing electricity for the Texas grid.

X Energy also hopes to work with similar companies in the UK, using the steam which is created in its energy production in industrial processes.