Leading U.S. nuclear SMR technology developer NuScale Power has confirmed it will put its Small Modular Reactor (SMR) forward as part of the competition launched today by the UK Government to select the best value SMR for the UK.

It also confirmed that talks with potential developers interested in deploying the technology in the UK in the 2020s are advancing, as are plans to put British nuclear engineering and advanced manufacturing at the forefront of that deployment.

NuScale Power’s Managing Director Tom Mundy for the UK and Europe said:

“NuScale’s SMR answers the particular needs of the UK’s energy market and the wider UK economy, and we intend to participate fully in the Government’s competition.

“Our technology is designed to be scalable, factory-fabricated and flexible, providing a financeable, cost-effective source of reliable, safe, low carbon power.

“Our proposed UK-U.S. venture marries a credible international partner and a near-term deployable technology with the UK’s world-renowned industry and workforce.

“NuScale modules could be rolling off the production line in British factories and generating power for British homes by the 2020s. Exports to other parts of Europe would transform the UK into a hub for this innovative technology.”

The Department of Energy and Climate Change today launched phase one of its SMR Competition with a call for initial expressions of interest. The Government has also announced that an SMR Delivery Roadmap will be published later this year.

NuScale has spent two years building a presence in the UK and has become confident in the British nuclear industry’s capability to deliver on the vision of a multi-billion pound manufacturing and infrastructure venture, which could see NuScale Power Modules manufactured in the UK, deployed in the UK, and exported across Europe, bringing major benefits to the UK in terms of jobs, economic growth, and intellectual property rights:

• Fluor Corporation is NuScale’s primary investor. Fluor has a 55 year history in the UK, an existing footprint in the UK nuclear industry, and a 2,000-strong engineering base in Hampshire.
• NuScale has a strategic partnership with Ultra Electronics, based in Dorset, to work on the development and deployment of the reactor protection system and other safety-related instrumentation and control systems.
• NuScale has a collaboration agreement with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield, which is working on the pioneering industrial techniques that have potential cost saving application to the deployment of SMRs.
• Commercial collaboration with the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory on fuel design related matters for NuScale.
• NuScale has an agreement with AREVA – which has a significant presence in the UK – to supply initial cores and subsequent reloads for the first U.S. deployment.
• NuScale intends to present ambitious options in support of advanced manufacturing and skills in the UK. It is already conducting an internship scheme to enable University of Sheffield engineering undergraduates to work and study at its Oregon test centre.

NuScale has work under way to augment this network with additional strategic supply partners from the UK. Talks with a number of potential investors and developers with an interest in deploying the technology in the UK are also advancing.

NuScale is at an advanced stage of development in the United States compared to its nearest competitors:

• As well as the strong backing of its primary investor Fluor Corporation, NuScale is the only SMR developer to be currently receiving financial backing from the U.S. Department of Energy, some $217M of match funding over 5 years.
• NuScale is the only SMR developer close to submitting its Design Certification Application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This will happen later this year, with a view to receiving regulatory approval in the early 2020s.
• NuScale is also the only U.S. SMR developer to have an active customer deployment project. The first NuScale facility is due to be completed in 2024 in the state of Idaho for UAMPS, a U.S. municipal utility.

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; a technology initially developed and tested at Oregon State University. 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 50 megawatts of electricity (gross) 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 600 MWe, gross (570 net, nominal, after house loads). 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 supply. 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; Charlotte, NC; and London, UK.

To keep up to date on NuScale Power in the UK follow @NuScale_UK on Twitter.