UAMPS will be siting a NuScale 12-module plant, capable of generating 924 MWe of clean electricity, within the INL’s 890-square mile site, in a relatively small footprint. This effort is part of the UAMPS Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP), which was launched in 2014 to advance state and national efforts to reduce carbon emissions and increase air quality.
SMR-generated power is 100 percent carbon-free. The 12-module NuScale plant produces 924 MWe (gross) and can power over 700,000 homes in the U.S. with carbon-free electricity. This would reduce CO2 emissions by eight million tons per year as compared to coal, the equivalent of taking 1.7 million cars off the road per year.
In January 2019, the DOE reached an agreement to support power generated from a small modular nuclear reactor project by using power from one of the modules for research and power to supply a national laboratory. The DOE intends to draw from two modules of a 12-module SMR plant to be constructed at INL by NuScale under UAMPS' CFPP.
The DOE research portion of the agreement is designed to focus on integrated energy systems that support power production and non-electric energy products. The other module may be used in a power purchase agreement to supply power to INL.
The utility Idaho Power has an existing transmission line connection with the lab, and since it has the load-serving responsibility from a regulatory standpoint, the power needs to be sold through them. The DOE forecasts that the lab will need up to 70 MWe in the 2025-2030 timeframe. The DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy agreement will allow the DOE to meet its needs in the form of resilient power to a national security mission-based lab while drawing from the nation's newest class of advanced reactors.