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.
NuScale Power, with the support of Fluor, expects to bring its technology to market by 2020. Commercialization of NuScale's SMR technology for U.S. and international deployment is expected to have a significant, positive effect on employment, enhance manufacturing capability and boost U.S. leadership in non-proliferation.
Additionally, in March 2012, NuScale signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Savannah River Site (SRS) and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) as further demonstration of the U.S. Department of Energy's commitment to commercialize American-designed small nuclear power plants.
In May 2014, NuScale, in which Fluor is a majority investor, officially signed a contract agreement with the DOE for funding that will support the development, licensing, and commercialization of the company's nuclear SMR technology.
In March 2016, the DOE and Utah Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) signed an agreement that provides UAMPS with a use permit to choose a suitable nuclear power plant site within the Idaho National Laboratory site boundaries. UAMPS plans to build and operate the first NuScale SMR power plant, producing 600 Megawatts of clean nuclear electricity.
In January 2017, Fluor announced that NuScale completed and formally submitted its design certification application for SMR commercial power plant design to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
In March 2017, two months after application submission, the NRC accepted NuScale's design certification application, confirming that the submission addresses all NRC requirements to conduct a full review.
In January 2018, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission concluded that application of NuScale's safety design approach eliminates the need for class 1E power for its small modular reactor (SMR).
In April 2018, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed the first and most intensive phase of review for NuScale's design certification application (DCA). NuScale's is the first and only small modular reactor (SMR) application to ever undergo NRC review. Also in early 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy awarded NuScale $40 million in cost-sharing financial assistance under its "U.S. Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development" funding opportunity. The federal award supports early-stage research and development and the industry’s acceleration of these technologies to promote U.S. energy independence, energy dominance, electricity grid resiliency, national security, and clean baseload power.
In July 2019, the NRC completed Phases 2 and 3 of the design certification process. In December 2019, the NRC completed Phase 4.
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.
Read more about Fluor's investment in NuScale.
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