Earlier this week, NuScale Power announced it will pursue the second round of small modular reactor funding recently offered by the Department of Energy, joining the other two unsuccessful firms from the program's first round.
With backing from Fluor, Oregon-based NuScale is working on a 45 megawatt SMR with a combined reactor and containment vessel. The design allows for scalable power plants that can incorporate as many as 12 units.
“We are eager to be a part of DOE’s important effort to provide assistance for design certification and ultimate deployment of SMR technology," NuScale CEO John Hopkins said in a release. “This program would provide the groundwork for full domestic and international commercialization of the NuScale SMR technology, and in doing so, would help rejuvenate a U.S. nuclear supply chain.”
In November, the DOE awarded a Babcock & Wilcox-Bechtel consortium up to half of the $452 million in federal funds set aside to help SMRs reach design certification by 2022. Since then, the other prior competitors for the funding — Westinghouse, Holtec International and now NuScale — have announced their intentions to compete for the remainder of the money.
Holtec has reached an agreement with South Carolina's NuHub economic development organization to compete for funding to build Holtec's SMR-160 at the Savannah River Site. Meanwhile, Westinghouse has been working with the NexStart SMR Alliance in Missouri to potentially build an SMR at Ameren's Callaway nuclear plant.