Construction of LDR-50 Pilot Facility Planned in Finland

Steady Energy announced that it plans to start construction of a pilot facility within LDR-50 for district heating in Finland.

The LDR-50 reactor module is made of two nested pressure vessels with their intermediate space partially filled with water.  When the heat removal through the primary heat exchangers is compromised, water in the intermediate space begins to boil, forming an efficient passive heat transfer route into the reactor pool, the company said. The system does not rely on electricity or any mechanical moving parts, which could fail and prevent the cooling function.

The pilot facility will serve as a full-scale, operational model of the Finnish designed small modular reactor (SMR). Unlike the actual power plant, the pilot unit will use an electric element to produce heat inside the reactor capsule instead of nuclear fuel. The main purpose is to test operational features and to establish the necessary supply chains with various manufacturers to construct actual plants.

Steady Energy expects that the construction of the first operational LDR-50 district heating plant to begin by 2028, with the first unit expected to be commissioned by 2030.