Saying he does not see a large enough market materializing for the technology in the near future, the CEO of Westinghouse announced the company has shifted staff working on its small modular reactor to the team working on the AP1000.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Danny Roderick said the company plans to file a license application for its SMR design eventually. But until the commercial demand emerges for 30 to 50 SMR modules, he said they are not economically viable to manufacture.
Several companies are pursuing SMRs for their potential to be produced in off-site factories, reducing build cost and construction time, while allowing utilities the flexibility to add power generation in smaller increments. The Department of Energy has awarded NuScale and Babcock & Wilcox up to $452 million in matching funds to help commercialize SMRs. Westinghouse also applied for that money, as did Holtec International, although the latter company has said it remains committed to its small reactor. Ameren, which had partnered with Westinghouse in its DOE funding application, also remains open to hosting an SMR. The newspaper quoted William Magwood of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as saying he expects the first application for an SMR license to emerge in the next few months.
Westinghouse will instead direct more resources to its 1,154-megawatt AP1000 model under construction in China and at the Vogtle and V.C Summer plants in the U.S. The company will also expand its decommissioning work.