Texas-based Fluor Corporation has signed a contract with X-energy to support the company’s proposed advanced nuclear project at Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations in south Texas. The value of the contract was not disclosed. Fluor will initially deliver Front-End Loading Stage 2 (FEL-2) services. FEL-2 focuses on project definition, strategic planning, feasibility assessment, cost control and risk mitigation. Fluor will recognise [officially record the revenue on financial statements] the undisclosed contract value for this initial portion of work in the first quarter of 2026.
Dow’s proposed advanced small modular reactor (SMR) project is being developed by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Long Mott Energy. The project aims to supply Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations manufacturing site with power and industrial steam replacing existing energy and steam assets that are near end-of-life. The project is supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) which is designed to accelerate the deployment of advanced reactors through cost-shared partnerships with US industry.
The Seadrift site encompasses 4,700 acres and manufactures more than 4bn pounds of materials annually used across a wide variety of applications including food packaging and preservation, footwear, wire and cable insulation, solar cell membranes, and packaging for medical and pharmaceutical products. The site currently relies on gas-fired combustion and steam turbines for the majority of its energy.
Dow and X-Energy signed a joint development agreement in 2024 to deploy a four-unit Xe-100 NPP at the site by 2030. The agreement includes up to $50m in funding, up to half of which is eligible through ARDP, and the other half from Dow. X-Energy applied to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a construction permit for the Seadrift project in March 2025, which is under review.
The Xe-100 is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with a thermal output of 200 MWt or an electrical output of 80 MWe. It can be scaled into a four-pack 320 MWe power plant, fuelled by the company’s proprietary TRISO-X tri-structural isotropic particle fuel. The Xe-100 evolved from both the UK’s Dragon reactor at Winfrith in Dorset and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor project in South Africa.
“X‑energy’s technology offers a powerful pathway for small modular reactors to deliver safe, reliable and fit-for-purpose baseload power in an industrial setting,” said Pierre Bechelany, Fluor’s Business Group President for Energy Solutions. “With eight decades of nuclear experience, Fluor brings the proven expertise and disciplined execution required to help advance this landmark project.”
X-energy was selected by the DOE in 2020 to develop, licence and build its XE-100 advanced SMR and a first TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility. Since then, the company has completed engineering and preliminary reactor design, advanced development and licensing of its fuel facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Seadrift project is expected to become the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial facility in North America.
