small modular reactors

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) said it is working on deployment of three additional BWRX-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) at the Darlington New Nuclear Project site in Ontario, Canada. GEH on July 7 announced it will begin planning and licensing for the SMRs alongside Ontario Power Generation (OPG). Friday’s announcement comes after the groups in […]

Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas (2000–2015) and former U.S. Energy Secretary (2017–2019), who has more recently been in the news because of his support for legalizing psychedelic drugs, including

In the decade following World War II, the U.S. government took a keen interest in helping to create a commercial nuclear power industry. Although there were military leaders and members of Congress who

Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom has signed an agreement confirming its participation in construction of a small modular nuclear reactor project in the Russian Republic of Sakha. Officials from Sakha—an area also known as Yakutia—on Dec. 23 signed a deal with Rosatom outlining the formation of “electric power tariff principles” for an SMR power […]

Another small modular reactor (SMR) design is moving closer to commercial operation after achieving a licensing milestone. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), which is designing the BWRX-300 SMR, on Dec. 1 said the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a final safety evaluation report for the first of several licensing topical reports (LTRs) submitted […]

There’s widespread debate over whether nuclear power should be a player in the path toward addressing climate change. Industry analysts say nuclear is key to zero-emission power generation; even some environmentalists agree, though others point to the issue of disposal of nuclear waste, and concerns about the safety of reactors. Those concerns have led some […]

To propel interest and bolster development of advanced nuclear reactor designs, the Department of Energy (DOE) will demonstrate—by October 2020—the production of high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel in a first-of-its-kind $115 million project at the agency’s uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.  HALEU is nuclear fuel that is enriched to a higher degree […]

State-imposed standards and financial incentives such as those used to spur widespread adoption of renewables technologies offer a promising model to address challenges to commercialize small modular reactors (SMRs), says a report by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy. But to make a meaningful impact, nearly $10 billion in incentives will […]

Interest in small modular reactors (SMRs) has ramped up of late owing to applications in niche electricity or energy markets where large reactors would not be viable—such as for cogeneration in countries with small grids, remote and off-grid areas, and for nuclear/renewable hybrid projects. Modular attributes may also enable SMRs to target the economics of […]

Small modular reactors (SMRs), defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a reactor less than 300 MW, are fast emerging as a promising option for nuclear energy. They offer flexible power