US NuScale Power Corporation is to partner with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to use an artificial intelligence (AI)-nuclear design framework to strategically explore how fuel could be even more efficiently and effectively managed for a 12-NuScale Power Module (NPM) configuration at a single site. The research is being funded by a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) award. GAIN provides technical, regulatory, and financial support needed to advance nuclear technology towards commercialisation. This is part of the first round of GAIN Vouchers awarded in fiscal year 2026.
As part of this study, NuScale will partner with ORNL to use the power of AI to explore potential options for reducing fuel costs across multiple reactors. NuScale uses proven, off-the-shelf fuel assemblies, and unlike large reactors, NuScale’s multi-module architecture offers a unique opportunity to enhance fuel efficiency in up to 12 reactors with a single shared fuel pool and a significant number of fuel options. By sharing fuel across modules, NuScale may find ways to improve overall plant fuel efficiencies beyond what can be normally achieved in a single reactor plant. ORNL will share their expertise in AI, machine learning, fuel management, and computational resources to help drive this important research.
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with ORNL, with the support of the DOE, to assess exciting new opportunities for potentially managing fuel even more efficiently across multiple nuclear reactors and further reducing costs going forward,” said John Hopkins, NuScale President & CEO. “With the tremendous focus on growing energy consumption in the US and around the world, NuScale is committed to bringing clean, reliable energy to our customers, and this strategic partnership with ORNL will use cutting-edge computational science to create even more energy efficient fuel management solutions for our multi-module plants.”
The NMP is a pressurised water reactor with all the components for steam generation and heat exchange incorporated into a single 77 MWe unit, using standard light water reactor fuel. A 12-module plant could generate up to 924 MWe. NuScale is the first and only SMR to have its designs certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
