PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NuScale Power announced today that it has finalized the cooperative agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) as an awardee under the program for “Cost-Shared Development of Innovative Small Modular Reactor Designs.” NuScale was selected as the sole awardee of the DOE round two funding in December of 2013.
The agreement calls for NuScale to receive up to $217M in matching funds over a five year period. The company will use the funds to perform the engineering and testing needed to proceed through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Design Certification Process. NuScale expects to submit the application for design certification in the second half of 2016. This will allow NuScale to meet a commercial operation date of 2023 for its first planned project, in Idaho, with partners Energy NorthWest and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.
John Hopkins, NuScale Power’s chairman and chief executive officer, stated, “We are pleased to have completed this agreement, initiating our partnership with DOE to develop a global-leadership position for American products in the Small Modular Reactor market. With the support of DOE and our other key partners, we are committed to pursuing commercialization and meeting the needs of our future customers.”
“Small modular reactors represent a new generation of safe, reliable, low-carbon nuclear energy technology and provide a strong opportunity for America to lead this emerging global industry,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, when announcing NuScale’s selection last December. “The Energy Department is committed to strengthening nuclear energy’s continuing important role in America’s low carbon future, and new technologies like small modular reactors will help ensure our continued leadership in the safe, secure and efficient use of nuclear power worldwide.”
About NuScale Power, LLC
NuScale Power, LLC is developing a new kind of nuclear plant; a safer, smaller, scalable version of pressurized water reactor technology, designed with natural safety features. Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), a global engineering, procurement and construction company with a 60-year history in commercial nuclear power, is the majority investor in NuScale. As the sole winner of the second round of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) competitively-bid, cost-sharing program to develop nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) technology, NuScale's design offers the benefits of carbon-free nuclear power but takes away the issues presented by the cost of installing large capacity. A nuclear power plant using NuScale's technology is comprised of individual NuScale Power Modules™, each producing 45 megawatts of electricity with its own factory-built combined containment vessel and reactor vessel, and its own packaged turbine-generator set. A power plant can include as many as 12 NuScale Power Modules to produce as much as 540 megawatts. The reactor coolant is driven by natural circulation and can be shut down safely with no operator action, no AC or DC power, and no external water. NuScale power plants are scalable - additional modules are added as customer demand for electricity increases. NuScale's technology also is ideally suited to supply energy for district heating, desalination and other applications. NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has offices in Corvallis, OR; Rockville, MD; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; and Chattanooga, TN. For more information visit: www.nuscalepower.com.
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