Sealer reactor will replace temporary diesel setup in town once dependent on coal mining
Project company Svalbard Kjernekraft has submitted a planning initiative for a Sealer small modular reactor (SMR) in Longyearbyen, a coal-mining town on Spitsbergen Island, in Norway’s isolated Svalbard archipelago.
The move marks the first formal step on the road towards building the facility, said Blykalla, the Swedish lead-cooled SMR technology developer that set up Svalbard Kjernekraft with Norwegian nuclear project developer Norsk Kjernekraft.
Blykalla said the planned Sealer reactor will replace a temporary diesel setup that was introduced after Longyearbyen’s coal power plant closed in 2023. The town’s last coal mine is also scheduled for closure.
The company said it will deliver reliable, fossil-free electricity and district heating all year round, in a location where limited grid capacity and extreme weather conditions otherwise make clean power production difficult.
With the planning initiative submitted, the next stage is for the governor of Svalbard to set the scope of the environmental impact assessment. Once that is in place, detailed studies and stakeholder consultations can begin, paving the way for the licensing process and eventual construction.
Blykalla said the Longyearbyen project will serve as a showcase for how advanced SMR technology can help secure energy supply in places with limited energy capacity, both in the Nordics and around the world.
Blykalla’s Sealer SMR plant will use liquid lead cooling. Lead-cooled nuclear plants are not yet operating, but are being developed as next-generation, or Generation IV, reactors.
Lead has a very high boiling temperature of 1,749°C which means the problem of coolant boiling is for all practical purposes eliminated. This brings with it important safety advantages that also result in design simplification and improved economic performance.
According to Blykalla, Sealer is suited for remote environments where “traditional grid infrastructure falls short”.
