Hyundai joins Holtec in plan that could put small reactor at Oyster Creek
By Amanda Oglesby Asbury Park Press
A subsidiary of South Korean automaker Hyundai and the nuclear company Holtec International have partnered to build a nuclear plant prototype that could be placed in Lacey in the future.
Holtec International, the Camden-based company that is decommissioning the former Oyster Creek nuclear plant, announced the new partnership this week. The companies are working to build Holtec’s SMR-160 plant, a “small modular reactor” meant to reduce costs for nuclear power and re-energize nuclear’s place in electricity markets.
Holtec expects its SMR-160 prototype to be complete by 2030. The company has also expressed interest in its Lacey property as the site for the prospective reactor. Other communities are also under consideration.
Across the nation, aging and expensive nuclear plants are being closed or bolstered with government subsidies to remain economically viable against competition from cheaper natural gas plants. Nuclear companies hope new designs in small modular reactors will provide an energy-generating alternative that is less expensive than traditional nuclear and carbon-free, a factor they hope will be an advantage over cheap, carbon-emitting natural gas plants.
The nuclear companies are also touting the emerging small modular reactor technology as more reliable than solar and wind power and safer than older, more complex nuclear reactor designs.
Lacey Mayor Peter Curatolo is pleased that Holtec is eyeing its Oyster Creek property for the prototype’s location. Watch the 2017 video for Curatolo speaking about plans for the township after the closing of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant.
“Anytime that there’s an expansion and the possibility of increasing employment in our town… I would support that,” he said. “I’m very comfortable with the level of security there and the level of federal oversight (of decommissioning) that continues… there at the plant location.”
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