Dominion: No impact to Surry from plans to study small modular reactor at Lake Anna

Dominion Energy’s nuclear power plant in Surry County and an adjacent 600-acre parcel on which a first-of-its-kind combination data center and hydrogen fuel hub powered by small, modular reactors, or SMRs, is planned won’t be impacted by Dominion’s request for proposals to study the feasibility of an SMR at company’s North Anna power plant in Louisa County, according to Dominion officials.

Dominion announced on July 10 it would solicit proposals from leading SMR nuclear technology companies to evaluate the feasibility of developing an SMR at North Anna, the newer of the state’s two nuclear plants, which began operating in 1978. The Surry plant, which is nearly identical, began operating its first reactor six years earlier in 1972.

SMRs have been used since the 1950s on submarines and other naval vessels but to date haven’t been utilized on land in the United States. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2022 energy plan calls for at least one SMR in Virginia within the next decade.

Tim Eberly, a spokesman for Dominion, said the companies that respond to the utility’s request would be asked to submit written proposals on the development of an SMR at North Anna, but wouldn’t be tasked with actually building it at this point.

“It’s too early to say whether Dominion Energy is going to accept any of the proposals submitted in connection with the RFP,” Eberly said. “A company would only be obligated to deliver on developing an SMR if we accepted their proposal and executed a contract with that company to build an SMR.”

Any SMR at the North Anna site would be in addition to, and not a replacement of, its two existing reactors, Eberly said.

The Virginia Clean Economy Act, a 2020 state law, mandates Dominion transition to 100% carbon-free energy sources by 2045, which has spurred among developers in SMRs and in solar farms.

Surry County supervisors approved rezoning for the SMR-powered data center and hydrogen hub in February, though the site, which is proposed to house 19 data centers spread across a 3-million-square-foot campus, is expected to be built in phases over the next 13 years, according to its developer, Middleburg-based Green Energy Partners.

Green Energy announced its intentions for the Surry site last year, initially pledging it would bring 2,000 to 3,000 jobs, though the company later acknowledged not all would be permanent nor would the influx occur all at once. Most of the more than 1,300 permanent jobs pledged as of the February vote would be tied either to the hydrogen plant or to the operation of three SMRs, according to an economic impact analysis submitted with Green Energy’s rezoning application.

Eberly said Dominion has no involvement in the data center and  hydrogen hub, which has been dubbed the Surry Green Energy Center.