NuScale to Seek Federal Funding for Small Modular Reactor

NuScale on Wednesday announced it would seek federal funding to accelerate deployment of the company’s small modular reactor technology, saying it would submit a letter of intent in response to a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) announced by the Department of Energy (DOE) earlier this month.

NuScale said it was the "only U.S.-based company established solely for the deployment and commercialization of its SMR technology." The company has developed a scalable SMR that uses light water reactor technology. The reactor design’s development began in 2000 under a DOE-funded research program, NuScale said.

The Portland, Ore.–based company has been in pre-application discussions with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) since 2008.

As POWERnews reported on March 14, the DOE said it would solicit proposals for cost-shared SMR projects that have the potential to be licensed by the NRC and achieve commercial operation around 2025, while offering innovative and effective solutions for enhanced safety, operations, and performance. The FOA is scheduled to close on July 1.

Four developers of reactors under 300 MW responded to the DOE’s $452 million cost-shared federal funding opportunity that was issued last year, including Westinghouse, Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), NuScale, and Holtec. Babcock & Wilcox was selected as the winner of the program last November.

NuScale’s modules, which can be factory-made and shipped in sets of 12, has been backed by the South Carolina–based NuHub economic development organization as well as SCANA Corp. subsidiary South Carolina Gas & Electric, which has agreed to operate the first NuScale plant at the DOE Savannah River Site. Several prominent entities have also endorsed NuScale’s design, including the Customer Advisory Board (whose 17 members include utilities and organizations) and Energy Northwest, another group comprising public and investor-owned utilities.

Sources: POWERnews, NuScale