Portland-based NuScale submitted its safety application to the NRC on Dec. 31, 2016. The company's design uses natural, "passive" processes such as convection and gravity in its operating systems and safety features, with capabilities of producing up to approximately 600 MW of electricity. Its 12 modules of 50 MW apiece are all submerged in a safety-related pool built below ground level, according to the NRC.
NuScale's first operational SMR—and potentially the first in the United States—will likely be the 462 MW Carbon Free Power Project planned for the Idaho National Laboratory, near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The plant's first modules are anticipated to be on line in 2029, with the remaining modules entering service in 2030.
The off-taker for the project is the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, which completed site-characterization fieldwork for the project at the national lab in February.
"We're very excited for the final safety certification," Mark Gendron, special advisor to UAMPS, told Clearing Up. "We now have a really clear path to get the rest of the licensing and engineering work completed and ultimately begin construction."
NRC's safety certification is the first of three major regulatory approvals NuScale's SMR design will need from the commission. NRC is currently reviewing NuScale's standard design application, and UAMPS is moving forward on developing a combined license application, which is expected to be submitted to the NRC for review in early 2024.
UAMPS provides power supply, transmission and other services to 50 public-power utilities in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming. Twenty-seven of its members have contracted to buy 116 MW from the project, and the group is in advanced discussions with several utilities about contracting for the remaining 346 MW, Gendron said.
The CFPP project would interconnect at PacifiCorp's Antelope Substation near INL, making its power accessible to utilities in the balancing authority areas of PacifiCorp, BPA, Western Area Power Administration and Idaho Power, as well as in the California ISO's Western EIM.
"We've been very engaged with about a dozen or so utilities in the Northwest that have expressed and demonstrated serious interest in the project," Gendron said. "We remain optimistic that we'll fully subscribe the resource."
Grant County PUD is one of those Northwest utilities taking a close look at SMR technology. The utility has signed a memorandum of understanding with both UAMPS and X-Energy Technologies, which is developing a 320 MW commercial demonstration project near Richland, Wash.
Grant is internally evaluating which technology is the best fit for the utility, PUD GM Rich Wallen said in an email to Clearing Up.
An unidentified Arizona utility inked a letter of intent with the project for 25 MW, and seven other utilities are developing LOIs for a total of 237 MW (CU No. 2014 [11]).
"The affirmation of NuScale's design and strong safety case could not have come at a more crucial time—when around the world, people are struggling from the compounding crises of volatile energy prices and climate change-driven extreme weather events," John Hopkins, president and CEO of NuScale, said in a statement. "We are pleased with this continued recognition of our technology's inherent safety design and our potential as a timely, carbon-free energy solution to meet our global community's needs."
NuScale's Carbon Free Power Project is one of three SMR projects under development in the Northwest.
Bellevue, Wash.-based TerraPower is developing a 345 MW SMR near PacifiCorp's western Wyoming coal-fired Naughton power plant, which is slated to be shuttered in 2025.
X-energy and Energy Northwest are developing the aforementioned 320 MW commercial demonstration SMR planned for Richland, which could be on line by 2028.
