Multi-western state collaboration to study demo and deployment of NuScale small modular reactor
01 July 2013
NuScale Power, LLC, a company commercializing a small modular nuclear reactor (earlier post), announced the launching of the Western Initiative for Nuclear (WIN)—a multi-western state collaboration—to study the demonstration and deployment of a multi-module NuScale Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plant at a site such as the Idaho National Laboratory location that would be operational by 2024.
NuScale Chairman and CEO, John Hopkins announced the WIN initiative following the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting held in Park City, Utah, this past weekend.
The participating utilities, Energy Northwest and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, have assessed regional strategies for reducing long-term carbon emissions including replacing aging coal-fired units, as well as meeting forecasted energy demand growth, and concluded that SMR technology is a vitally important option. Based on the teaming agreement, Project WIN establishes the initial participants and the foundational elements for deployment of the first NuScale SMR project.
—John Hopkins
WIN is viewed as the initial demonstration project for a potential series of projects that may be developed in other states. The first NuScale plant will most likely be developed, built and owned by a consortium of regional utilities like WIN, and operated by one of these utilities.
As the only US-based company established solely for the commercialization of its SMR, NuScale has developed technology for a scalable small modular reactor. Using proven light water reactor (LWR) technology, the NuScale Power Module is cooled by natural circulation, is entirely self-contained, and installed underwater and underground to maximize safety.
With its design, the NuScale Power Module has the ability safely to shut down and self-cool, indefinitely, with no operator action, no AC or DC power and no additional water.
At 45 megawatts per module, the NuScale SMR design is targeted to markets that no other LWR SMR design can reach. A NuScale power plant can include as many as 12 NuScale Power Modules to produce as much as 540 MW.
I hope that this works out. I would much rather rely on these than trying to build more wind turbines or, more likely, more turbines burning natural gas. Unfortunately, it is still 10 years in the future.
Posted by: sd | 01 July 2013 at 03:19 PM
sd
You mean 20 or 30 years, nuclear energy as a very long development lead time unfortunately.
Posted by: Treehugger | 01 July 2013 at 08:15 PM
It is a pity each module is so small, but I suppose that is the price you pay for a self cooling reactor.
They used to talk about pebble bed reactors which were about 100Mw/unit, and even this seemed small.
Anyway, good luck to them.
Posted by: mahonj | 01 July 2013 at 11:46 PM
“to maximize safety ”
The design reduces insignificant risk to insignificant risk on paper. SMR will remain paper reactors because the are not economical.
Powder River Basin coal is very cheap and low sulfur. The environment problem in the rest is forest health. Small biomass plants to burn excess biomass would help solve that problem except that form of renewable energy is not cheaper wind farms in the short term.
Posted by: Kit P | 02 July 2013 at 05:37 AM