Elementl Power advances Ohio SMR project with GE Vernova Hitachi deal

Elementl Power has taken one of the clearest commercial steps yet toward building a new U.S. small modular reactor project, signing an Early Works Agreement with GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy for the BWRX-300 design. For the southeast Ohio proposal, the deal matters because it ties together vendor support, site control, and grid planning in a way that moves the project closer to steel in the ground.

The plant is planned for Letart Township in Meigs County, along the Ohio River, on a nearly 700-acre site Elementl says it has agreed to buy from American Municipal Power. Elementl has also filed an interconnection request with PJM Interconnection for the first 600 MW of output, a sign that the project is being shaped as a real grid resource rather than a paper concept.

Elementl says the site could ultimately host up to 1.5 GW of nuclear capacity, equivalent to about five BWRX-300 units. The company is targeting construction to begin in 2030, with the first unit expected to enter service in 2034, but only after a final investment decision and the necessary regulatory approvals.

That sequence makes the Early Works Agreement more than a vendor handshake. It is the project’s bridge from announcement to execution, locking in the reactor supplier as the company advances the work needed to prove the plan can move from land and design into buildout, financing, and licensing. Chief executive Chris Colbert framed the project as both an infrastructure play and a community-development effort, saying Elementl wants to work with Letart Township, Meigs County, and Ohio state stakeholders throughout the process.

The BWRX-300 has become one of the most closely watched SMR designs in the Western market. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it is already conducting pre-application activities on the design and describes it as a roughly 300 MWe water-cooled, natural-circulation SMR with passive safety features. That makes the Ohio project a meaningful commercialization checkpoint for GE Vernova Hitachi as well as Elementl.

The Meigs County riverfront site also comes with energy history attached. American Municipal Power once planned a 1,000-megawatt coal plant there, but canceled the project in 2009 after costs escalated. Elementl is now trying to turn that same ground into a multi-unit nuclear site, with the grid request, site purchase, and vendor agreement forming the early proof points that will show whether the project is genuinely advancing.

Elementl’s broader strategy is already larger than one tract in Ohio. The company previously announced a strategic agreement with Google to develop three advanced nuclear sites, each intended to support at least 600 MW of capacity. In the BWRX-300 race, the most important near-term comparison remains Darlington in Ontario, where Ontario Power Generation is building the first unit and giving the design its most important commercial reference case.