NRC completes environmental review for Dow and X-energy’s Long Mott project

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it completed the environmental assessment for Dow and X-energy’s proposed Long Mott Generating Station in Seadrift, Texas, and issued a finding of no significant impact.

The agency said the review finished ahead of schedule. Long Mott is planned as a four-reactor facility using X-energy’s Xe-100 design at Dow’s Texas Gulf Coast site.

Dow and X-energy both confirmed the milestone in separate statements issued the same day. Their construction permit application remains under NRC review for the safety decision.

What the milestone means

An environmental assessment is one of the federal steps needed before the NRC can decide whether to issue a construction permit. The agency’s finding of no significant impact indicates it does not expect the project to create major environmental harm based on the review completed so far.

The latest filing does not clear the project for construction. It does, however, remove one major regulatory hurdle and keeps the proposal moving through the NRC process.

What happens next

The remaining question is the safety review, which will determine whether the project can advance toward a construction permit later this year.

Dow and X-energy have described Long Mott as the first commercial deployment project for the Xe-100 design, but the reactor project still needs federal approval before work can begin.