Fluor Corporation announced on 15 March that NuScale Power, in which Fluor is the majority investor, has received notice that its design certification application has been accepted for review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
By accepting the completed application for review, the NRC confirms that NuScale’s submission addresses all NRC requirements and contains sufficient technical information to conduct the review.
NuScale’s small modular reactors (SMR) include scalable plants, and the facility output can be incrementally increased in line with demand. NuScale said the technology can also be integrated with other carbon-free renewable energy sources such as wind and solar to provide consistent power and to help enable stable grid performance. Fluor has supported NuScale since October 2011, which was before the US Department of Energy announced its cost-sharing programme.
Commenting on the news NuScale CEO John Hopkins said: “This is a great next step for a new American nuclear technology and a step we see as affirming NuScale as a true leader in SMR technology development."
“The uncommon fact that the NRC was able to accept our application during the 60-day docketing review period is validation of all of our hard work over the past eight years.”
When NuScale announced the application submittal in January, the NRC had targeted completing the certification process for the NuScale SMR power plant design in 40 months from acceptance.
Photo: NuScale Power Module (Credit: NuScale)
