LONDON, UK – A new generation of British engineering undergraduates has been selected to work and study at one of North America’s most advanced Small Modular Reactor (SMR) test facilities.

Four University of Sheffield undergraduates have been chosen for U.S. nuclear technology developer NuScale Power’s fully-funded internship programme, which will run from June through September this year. In partnership with Oregon State University (OSU) and the University of Sheffield, NuScale’s internship programme provides a unique opportunity for students to gain valuable industry experience at the company’s operational base in Corvallis, Oregon.

This latest tranche of students to take up NuScale internships follows a successful programme last year, which saw four Sheffield engineering undergraduates cross the Atlantic and contribute to NuScale’s pioneering SMR development programme. This summer a further four Sheffield students will be given the opportunity to work with NuScale’s 400+ strong team of engineers and participate in cutting-edge research and development activities to advance the company’s innovative technology.

Backed by the U.S. Department of Energy and Fluor Corporation, NuScale’s technology is at an advanced stage of development. The company completed a design certification application (DCA) in late 2016 and submitted this to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) – the first ever SMR DCA. Regulatory approval is expected in the early 2020s and NuScale expects to be generating for its first U.S. customer from a site in Idaho by the mid-2020s.

Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director – UK & Europe, Tom Mundy said:

“Following a successful internship programme last summer, we are once again thrilled to be welcoming four more promising engineers from the University of Sheffield to our world class test facilities.

“Having submitted our design certification application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the beginning of the year, it really is an incredibly exciting time for these talented students to experience working at our facilities this summer.

“We’re keen to play a leading role in building the skills base needed for UK companies to manufacture and deploy our innovative technology by the mid-2020s, and for the SMR opportunity to be realised for the UK – home and abroad.”

NuScale’s internship programme offers Sheffield undergraduates a rare glimpse into the work being carried out by NuScale’s engineering team. They will gain hands-on experience in research needed for the future development of the company’s SMR technology. This includes the application of sophisticated laser technology used to analyse the performance of NuScale’s technology at its one-third scale test facility. The state-of-the-art facility, which has operated since 2003, is a first-of-a-kind for the U.S. light water SMR industry.

This collaboration with the University of Sheffield is part of a broader UK-U.S. partnership on SMR development and deployment, which NuScale has been building with UK organisations for the past several years. The company is working with other Sheffield-based industry, including the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd. – NuScale is currently supporting Forgemasters as part of a programme of work supported by Innovate UK, which will see the completion of a demonstration forging of a NuScale reactor vessel head later this year.

NuScale’s UK-U.S. collaboration also includes the company’s strategic partnership with Ultra Electronics to develop and deploy the module protection system and other safety-related instrumentation for NuScale’s technology.

The successful applicants chosen by a joint NuScale-OSU selection panel are:

• Matthew Coleman;
• Igor Gawron;
• Aidan Hughes;
• Ioan-Iulian Vizireanu.

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 - 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. NuScale's design offers the benefits of carbon-free nuclear power and reduces the financial commitments associated with giga-watt size nuclear facilities. NuScale technology is ideally suited across diverse platforms including base load electricity, load-following support for renewables, very high-reliability micro-grids, and process heat or steam for district heating, desalination and industrial uses.

At the heart of our technology is the fully factory fabricated NuScale Power Module™, an integral reactor vessel surrounded by a high pressure steel containment, which when coupled to its factory fabricated power generation equipment can produce 50 megawatts of electricity. A NuScale power plant can house up to 12 of these modules for a total facility output of 600 megawatts (gross). The scalability afforded by the modular design allows customers to incrementally increase facility output to match demand. The NuScale Power Module™ is premised on well-established nuclear technology principles with a focus on integration of components, simplification or elimination of systems, and use of passive safety features resulting in highly reliable operation underpinned by an extremely strong safety case and unparalleled asset protection, making it suitable to be sited at locations closer to where electricity or process heat are needed.

NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has offices in Corvallis, OR; Rockville, MD; Charlotte, NC; Richland, WA; and London, UK.