A 10-year graphite supply contract for X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactor (“SMR”) was announced by X-energy Reactor Company and SGL Carbon. A long-term strategy that supports production readiness for future projects is anchored on an initial three-year deal worth over $100 million for X-energy’s first commercial deployment. Together, these commitments will assist the implementation of X-energy’s 11 GW commercial pipeline by bolstering the company’s SMR supply chain development at full commercial scale.
For the first deployment of the Xe-100, a proposed four-unit plant in partnership with Dow in Seadrift, Texas, under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, SGL began manufacturing graphite reactor components under the initial contract using their specialized NBG-18 medium-grain isotropic graphite.
X-energy has reserved additional capacity for the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility in SGL’s production schedule as part of the long-term plan. Cascade is the first of several X-energy projects with Amazon that aim to produce at least 5 GW of additional nuclear power by 2039. It is a planned 12-unit Xe-100 project in Washington State with Energy Northwest.
SGL is a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced carbon materials, operating at 29 sites across Europe, North America, and Asia with extensive experience across sectors including automotive, aerospace, energy, and semiconductors.
X-energy and SGL have collaborated since 2015 on the qualification of NBG-18 graphite for use in the Xe-100, leveraging SGL’s experience manufacturing graphite for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (“HTGRs). This work has helped establish a strong foundation of technical expertise that has now progressed into commercial-scale production.
Key Comments
“Scaling new nuclear requires partners who know how to execute, and have done so time and again in the world’s most demanding industries,” said J. Clay Sell, CEO of X-energy. “SGL brings decades of innovation in aerospace, automotive, energy, and semiconductor applications, and we are thrilled to bring that depth of experience into the new nuclear sector.”
Andreas Klein, CEO of SGL Carbon, said, “X-energy is a pioneer in the development and manufacture of small, modular, high-performance nuclear reactors for energy generation. X-energy has done groundbreaking work in recent years and is now entering the implementation phase with its first projects with Dow and other well-known customers. We are proud to be part of this success story and to contribute to a long-term and successful partnership. This is a first milestone in the development of new applications for our products and SGL Carbon’s entry into a strategically important market.”
X-energy and SGL’s agreement advances X-energy’s fleet-scale SMR supply chain 
development strategy and builds on recent announcements with global industrial leaders including Doosan Enerbility for steel manufacturing and capacity expansion, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power for fleet-scale deployment collaboration, and additional agreements for IG-110 fine-grain graphite.
