NRC approves key safety aspect of NuScale’s small modular reactor design

NuScale Power LLC recently announced that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission concluded that the NuScale small modular reactor (SMR) could perform its safety functions without safety-grade electrical power, the first approval of its kind.

The reactor has a fully passive design that uses natural forces such as convection and gravity rather than electrically operated pumps to circulate coolant. The reactor can shut down and cool off without the need for external electric power, human intervention or the addition of water.

“Our approach to safety is a first in the nuclear industry and exemplifies the inherent safety of NuScale’s SMR,” Dale Atkinson, NuScale chief operating officer and chief nuclear officer, said. “This validation brings us another step closer to achieving our mission of delivering scalable advanced nuclear technology to produce the electricity, process heat, and clean water needed to improve the quality of life for people around the world.”

Approximately one year ago, NuScale filed with the NRC the first-ever SMR design certification application (DCA). The NuScale SMR design has one-twentieth the nuclear fuel of current reactors and a simplified electrical system.

“Scientists and engineers have long believed that small reactors have inherent safety characteristics,” Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) President and CEO Maria Korsnick said. “Now the NRC has formally endorsed that principle with its evaluation of this portion of NuScale’s design. This moves small reactors closer to commercial deployment.”

NuScale anticipates that the NRC will approve the reactor design by September 2020.

NuScale and its consortium partners at the Idaho National Laboratory plan to build NuScale’s first commercial power plant, which will consist of 12 SMR modules linked together totaling 600 megawatts, by 2026. The plant will be owned by Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems and operated by utility Energy Northwest.