By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday approved NuScale Power’s design for 77 megawatt reactors, clearing a hurdle for the company as it seeks to be the first company to build a U.S. small modular reactor.
NuScale sought approval for the 77 MW design to improve economics and performance of its planned small modular reactors (SMRs), after having originally received NRC approval in 2020 for a 50 MW reactor design.
SMRs are designed to be built in factories with relatively easily replicated parts instead of onsite like conventional nuclear power plants. Backers say the reactors will be safer to operate, their uranium cycles will be more resistant to access from militants seeking to obtain fissile materials, and their modular aspect will reduce costs for multiple plants.
SMR critics say they will be more expensive to operate than conventional reactors, which have larger reactors, and they will continue to produce radioactive waste for which the U.S. has no permanent repository.
NuScale is the only U.S. company with an approved design, but reaching the point of building a plant has been elusive. In 2023 NuScale axed its first project with a Utah municipal power group, despite a U.S. government promise of $1.35 billion in funding over 10 years for the plant, known as the Carbon Free Power Project. As costs rose, several towns had pulled out of the project.
John Hopkins, NuScale’s president and chief executive, said Thursday’s approval, which came two months earlier than had been expected, allows the company to construct and operate a plant.
“We now have an American technology that is near-term deployable,” Hopkins said. As many as 12 of the 77 MW reactors can be put together in a plant, he said, which would be about the size of a typical conventional reactor.
Hopkins said the company could have an SMR in operation by the end of the decade if a customer moves quickly. “It’s really in the customer’s hands.”
NuScale shares were down 3.9% at $33.96 in afternoon trade.
Interest in nuclear energy has spiked as U.S. power demand rises for the first time in two decades on the boom in so-called hyper-scalers building data centers needed for artificial intelligence.
Last week President Donald Trump signed four executive orders aiming to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including reducing staffing levels in some offices. The orders also directed the Energy and Defense departments to work together to build nuclear plants on federal lands.
The orders did not direct any new public funding but could open the way for financing from the Loan Programs Office.
Hopkins said NuScale is in talks to build SMRs with five “tier one hyper-scalers that we have non-disclosure agreements with.” He did not identify them.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Leslie Adler)
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