Pennsylvania hub will be completed in 2024
US-based Westinghouse Electric Company is building a design and manufacturing facility near central Pittsburgh to accelerate commercialisation of its eVinci microreactor.
The eVinci hub in the borough of Etna will be home to engineering and licensing operations, testing, prototype trials, business development and sales.
It also includes manufacturing space for producing the innovative heat pipes that are central to the eVinci technology, as well as other components.
Westinghouse said construction began earlier this year and will be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
Pennsylvania contributed economic development grants to the project as part of a state initiative to build innovation and grow jobs.
In June, Westinghouse established eVinci Technologies as a separate business unit within the company to streamline all aspects of bringing the microreactor to the market.
Earlier this week the company was one of three US-based advanced nuclear energy developers awarded federal funding to design experiments to test microreactor designs in the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (Dome) test bed at Idaho National Laboratory.
“We are in a race to bring advanced nuclear technology to market as swiftly as possible to help tackle climate change and meet diverse community needs,” said DOE assistant secretary for nuclear energy Kathryn Huff. “We need this kind of approach that brings the right people together to hash out real-world solutions and deliver on the promise of advanced reactors.”
Westinghouse said the Etna location was chosen in part due to its proximity to some of the world’s finest universities, such as Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State - New Kensington, and the University of Pittsburgh. These universities are partnering with Westinghouse on the eVinci technology.
Microreactors are compact nuclear reactors typically capable of producing 1 to 20 MW of thermal energy that could be used directly as heat or converted to electric power.
