The U.S. nuclear industry is not doing well. The U.S. had about one hundred nuclear reactors in operation for the commercial generation of electric power. Six reactors have been retired in the past few years and there are plans to retire another sixteen reactors in the next ten years. Attempts to build two new reactors in South Carolina have collapses. The project to build new reactors in Georgia is having serious problems.
One of the proposed ways to expand the use of nuclear power in the U.S. is the creation of factory-made small modular reactors (SMR) that generate three hundred megawatts or less. It is claimed that this new type of reactor will be safer and cheaper than the current gigawatt plus conventional nuclear reactors.
NuScale Power is a private limited liability company with headquarters in Tigard, Oregon. NuScale was founded based on research on SMRs funded by the Department of Energy carried out between 2000 to 2003. The company was set up in 2007. NuScale has announced plans to construct its first reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. A Utah utility is in talks with NuScale to build a NuScale reactor in Utah. It has been projected that the first commercial NuScale reactor will be on the market around 2025. Earlier this month, NuScale signed a memorandum of understanding with Ontario Power Generation, Inc. (OPG) that OPG would assist NuScale with its vendor design review that will be evaluated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
Bruce Power is a privately-owned utility company in Canada. It provides about thirty percent of the electricity in the Ontario province. About six and a half gigawatts of the electricity from Bruce power come from commercial nuclear power reactors.
Last May, Bruce Power and the County of Bruce announced that they were entering into a partnership to create the Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII). This institute is intended to be an international center of excellence for applied research and training. This mission will include evaluating application for new nuclear technologies such as SMRs.
This week, NuScale signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bruce Power to develop a business case for the introduction of a NuScale SMR to the Canadian power market. The agreement says that Bruce Power will assist in evaluation, planning and licensing activities. Bruce Power said, “all of which will serve an important role in demonstrating the business case for why NuScale’s technology is the right choice for Ontario and Canada.” The agreement also included carrying out studies on the impact of deployment of a NuScale plant in Ontario Province. There will be feasibility studies for proposed SMR sites and other risk evaluation activities to demonstrate how the deployment of SMRs can be of use in Canada.
Mike Rencheck is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Bruce Power President. He remarked that the development of the NuScale SMR had reached the point "where Bruce Power can participate in understanding and developing a conceptual business case" for making SMRs a power source in Canada. He also said that “We look forward to working with NuScale.”
NuScale also has two laboratories in Italy and is working with the U.K. government on the possibility of building SMRs there.