UAMPS Carbon Free Power Project

Fluor is the majority shareholder in NuScale Power, a company developing small modular reactor (SMR) technology. NuScale's new modular light water nuclear reactor design is capable of generating 60 MW of electricity using a safer, smaller, scalable version of pressurized water reactor technology. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) is a joint-action governmental agency that provides energy services to its 46 community-owned power system members located throughout the intermountain western states. Together, NuScale and UAMPS are planning to construct the first commercial SMR power plant. The plant, to be located on the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) 890-square-mile Idaho site, could generate 720 MW of emissions-free power in a relatively small footprint.

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 the Idaho National Laboratory by NuScale under UAMPS' Carbon Free Power Project.

Client's Challenge

The NuScale Power SMR technology is a long-term strategy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and replace aging coal-fired plants with a non-fossil fuel, medium-sized flexible power generating source.

SMR-generated power is 100 percent carbon-free, comparable to power generated from wind, sun or water, but requires just one percent of the land area to produce the same amount of power. It also avoids emitting more than 6 million tons of CO₂ annually when comparing just one 60-megawatt NuScale plant with coal, and 2.5 million tons of CO₂ when comparing one NuScale plant with natural gas.

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 Idaho National Laboratory (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 MW of power 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.

Fluor's Solution

In August 2020, Fluor announced that NuScale received final design certification by the NRC, which is expected to advance the commercialization of NuScale’s SMR technology. Subsequently, UAMPS will seek a combined construction and operating license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), with the submittal expected in 2021. That license could be granted in 2023, allowing the module to be used by DOE in the Joint Use Modular Plant (JUMP) Program to be operational by 2026 and the rest of the plant to be operational by 2027. The JUMP program is an SMR research collaboration between UAMPS and INL. Through the program, INL will lease a NuScale Power Module^TM from the onsite UAMPS plant.

Conclusion

Through the JUMP program, NuScale will provide a cost-effective, one-of-a-kind opportunity for the national laboratory to conduct critical research, development and demonstration activities at the country's first commercial SMR facility. With NRC certification approval, the first module of the plant is expected to be fully operational by 2026 with the entire 12-module plant operational by 2027.

Learn more about NuScale.