Powering with SMR
mPower receives additional funding to develop its small modular reactor
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harlotte, N.C.-based Babcock & Wilcox mPower received an additional $20.5 million of funding from the U.S. Department of Energy under the Small Modular Reactor Licensing Technical Support Program. This amount makes the DOE’s full commitment of the initial budget period available to B&W mPower as it develops its SMR — small nuclear power plants that are assembled at a plant and then shipped to a final site. The B&W mPower reactor is an advanced integral pressurized water reactor designed to generate 180 megawatts of electricity. The company received the first installment of $79 million when it signed the agreement in April. The DOE has provided about $2 million to national laboratories to perform analyses and evaluations related to the project, bringing the total DOE investment to $101.5 million. B&W received the first award from the DOE to design, license and develop a commercial version of its SMR in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and San Francisco-based construction company Bechtel International. Through a five-year cost share agreement, the DOE will invest up to
Illustration/Courtesy of mPower
mPower received an additional $20.5 million in funding from the Department of Energy for design of its small modular reactor.
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half the project’s cost, with industry partners matching the investment. More funding is expected but subject to appropriations from Congress and B&W mPower’s compliance with the terms of the agreement. “The additional funding allocation from the DOE further demonstrates the U.S. government’s commitment to supporting private industry in the development and deployment of small modular reactor technology,” says Christofer M. Mowry, president of B&W mPower. The company is on schedule to begin commercial operation of the Clinch River mPower Plant near Oak Ridge, Tenn., by 2022. Next round of funding Another round of grants for SMR development is being offered by the DOE, and several companies with Carolinas ties are competing for this funding. These include: • Holtec International, based in Marlton, N.J., wants to build an SMR at Savannah River Site in Aiken County, S.C. This bid has the backing of the state of South Carolina and NuHub, the commercial nuclear advocacy group in the Midlands region of South Carolina. • NuScale Power, headquartered in Corvallis, Ore., has an agreement to build an SMR at the Savannah River Site. • Westinghouse, which operates a fuel fabrication facility in Columbia, S.C., is developing an SMR at St. Louis-based Ameren Corp.’s Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center near Fulton, Mo.
Photo/Licia Jackso
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While a handful of companies push ahead on small modular reactor designs, one company is already analyzing components for its version. At its fuel fabrication facility in Columbia, S.C., Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Co. has fuel assemblies ready for testing. The Department of Energy is reviewing the second round of grants for SMR development, and Westinghouse is in the running, says John Goossen, the company’s vice president of innovation and development for SMRs, a new generation of small nuclear power plants that are built in modular sections and shipped to their final site for assembly. Westinghouse has taken its licensed robust fuel assembly design and scaled it down for an SMR, says Jeffery Norrell, director of product engineering for Westinghouse. The SMR fuel assembly is based on technology being used in its AP1000® nuclear reactors, two of which are being built by Cayce, S.C.-based SCANA Corp. at V.C. Summer Nuclear Station. The Columbia plant will simulate SMR operation to test two of the assemblies for fretting (wear) on the fuel rods, using testing and analysis methods approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, fuel design engineer Mike Conner says. The design has shown no problematic wear in the AP1000 fuel assembly tests. The Westinghouse SMR is an integral pressurized water reactor. It is designed as a stand-alone unit.