Nebraska Public Power District Launches Siting Study for Small Modular Reactors

January 17, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 17, 2023

Nebraska Public Power District is beginning the process of studying sites that could have the potential to host advanced small modular nuclear reactors, it said on Jan. 13.

Under Nebraska legislative bill 1014, the State of Nebraska allocated $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding to complete a siting study for small modular reactors.

As an owner of a current operating nuclear power plant, Cooper Nuclear Station, NPPD qualified to apply for these funds to complete the siting study. NPPD’s application for funding was approved by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development on January 6.

The first phase of the siting study involves doing a Nebraska-wide assessment to determine the 15 best locations for siting small modular reactors based on geographic data and preliminary licensing criteria. Some of the key criteria being considered will be access to water and transmission lines among many others. This phase is estimated to be completed in spring of 2023.

The second phase of the study will perform a more in-depth evaluation and will focus on reducing the number of sites from 15 to four. This effort includes detailed field environmental and constructability evaluations based on criteria used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) when licensing nuclear plants. This phase of the study is estimated to take approximately a year to complete.

NPPD will be completing the study with the help of engineering firm, Burns & McDonnell, which has experience in the development and design of advanced small modular reactors.

Reliability, Resiliency, Safety and Affordability Flow from Small Modular Reactor Technology

January 17, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
January 17, 2023

New nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMR), have reached a point where they are able to help utilities address growing concerns about fulfilling their core mission: delivering safe, affordable, and reliable electric power.

Several industry trends are challenging utility executives’ abilities to balance those three key objectives.

A July report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) highlighted the growing threats to reliability, including extreme weather events, the growing proliferation of “inverter based resources” such as photovoltaic solar power and energy storage, and increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation.

The growth of renewable resources aimed at meeting state and federal goals aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions has been impressive. In the first half of the year, 24 percent of utility-scale generation in the United States came from renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, as NERC pointed out this summer, as renewable resources have proliferated, gas-fired generators are becoming “necessary balancing resources” for reliability, leading to an interdependence that poses “a major new reliability risk.”

In this environment, if utilities are going to stay on track to meet their clean energy targets while providing secure, safe and reliable electric power to meet growing demand, they are going to need a new solution.

“NuScale Power’s SMR technology offers a carbon-free energy solution with features, capability, and performance not found in current nuclear power facilities,” Karin Feldman, Vice President of NuScale’s Program Management Office, said in an interview.

Several utilities have already begun exploring the potential of a new generation of nuclear technology to help them meet both their clean energy and reliability needs as they work toward meeting growing demand.

NuScale’s project portfolio includes a six module, 462-MW VOYGR™ SMR power plant. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) plans to develop at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls for their Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP).

NuScale also has memorandums of understanding to evaluate the deployment of its SMR technology with Associated Electric Cooperative in Missouri and Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin.

“What we bring to the table is a technology that is smaller and simpler; that lowers total costs while providing high reliability and resilience, and greater safety,” said Feldman, who develops and manages NuScale’s portfolio of projects and establishes and maintains project controls, cost estimating, and risk management standards. She is also NuScale’s primary interface with the DOE.

Cost Comparisons

The smaller scale of NuScale’s reactors – 77 MW versus 700 MW or even 1,600 MW or more for conventional reactors – brings several cost advantages, Feldman said. Smaller reactors can be fabricated in a factory, which is cheaper than field fabrication, because it involves repetitive procedures that foster iterative improvement and economies of scale, she said. Smaller reactors also take less time to build, which lowers construction costs.

Because they are modular, an SMR does not force a utility to commit to participation in a nuclear project in the 1,000-MW to 2,000-MW size range. An SMR project can be scaled to meet demand, and modules can be added as demand requires, Feldman said. That helps reduce financial risk for a utility, she said.

Another, related consideration, highlighted by the supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is that much of NuScale’s technology can be locally sourced. “We are taking advantage of the U.S. supply chain to the greatest extent possible,” Feldman said. “We have some overseas manufacturers, but we are also engaged to develop additional U.S. capabilities in areas such as large-scale forgings.”

Reliability and Resiliency

Nuclear power plants generally have high reliability, over 92 percent, nearly twice the reliability of coal and natural gas plants, but the smaller, compact design of SMR technology can offer additional reliability advantages, Feldman said. Because NuScale plants are designed to scaled up in incremental steps, if any one of the individual reactors has an issue, the other reactors can continue to generate power, she explained.

NuScale’s SMR technology also enhances resiliency, Feldman said. The design calls for the reactors to be housed in a building below grade, hardening their vulnerability to airplane strikes and very large seismic events, she said.

An SMR plant also is designed with black start capability so that it can restart after a disruption without using the surrounding electric grid. “So, in the event of an emergency, it could be a first responder to the grid, one of the first generators to start up,” Feldman said.

And because the design calls for multiple reactors, a problem with one reactor does not require the entire plant to shut down. An SMR plant can also operate in island mode, serving as a self-sufficient energy source during an emergency, Feldman said.

In some ways, a NuScale SMR power plant resembles a microgrid. In fact, NuScale’s technology team has done a lot of analysis on microgrid capacity, Feldman said, noting that the analysis found that a 154-MW SMR plant could run for 12 years without refueling. “The technology is very good for mission critical functions and activities,” she said.

Safety First

Cost and resiliency are important considerations, but if a power plant, especially a nuclear power plant, is not safe, other considerations pale in comparison.

Safety is built into NuScale’s SMR design, Feldman said. “The SMR has a dual walled vessel design that gives it an unlimited coping period,” she said. “If an incident does occur, the plant can shut down without operator intervention or action and be safe and secure,” she said.

NuScale’s integrated design encompasses the reactor, steam generators and pressurizer and uses the natural action of circulation, eliminating the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.

If needed, the reactor shuts down and self cools indefinitely without the need for either alternating current or direct current power or additional water. The containment vessel is submerged in a heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool housed in a Seismic Category 1 reactor building as defined by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In essence, the unit continues to cool until the decay heat dissipates at which point the reactor is air cooled, Feldman said.

In 2018, the NRC found that NuScale’s SMR safety design eliminates the need for class 1E power, that is, power needed to maintain reactor coolant integrity and remain in a safe shutdown condition.

In August 2020, the NRC approved the overall design of NuScale’s SMR. In a next step, the NRC in July directed staff to issue a final rule certifying NuScale’s SMR design.

If approved, the certification would be published in the Federal Register and have the effect of law, providing even greater comfort to any entities exploring SMR technology to provide clean, emission free, reliable and affordable power, Feldman said.

The rulemaking is on NRC’s docket for a decision in November.

Finally, after a rigorous years long review by the NRC, the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER) regarding NuScale’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) methodology was issued. This is another tremendous “first” for NuScale’s technology. With the report’s approval of our methodology, an EPZ that is limited to the site boundary of the power plant is now achievable for a wide range of potential plant sites where a NuScale VOYGR™ SMR power plant could be located.

TVA to Retire Coal-Fired Power Plant, Construct 1,450-MW Combined-Cycle Natural Gas Plant

January 13, 2023

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 13, 2023

The Tennessee Valley Authority on Jan. 10 said it has decided to retire its Cumberland Fossil Plant and build a 1,450-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas facility by 2026.

TVA noted that it follows the National Environmental Policy Act, which ensures public participation and input and a robust review of all feasible options.

TVA’s two-unit coal-fired Cumberland Fossil Plant will retire in two stages, with one unit by the end of 2026 and the second unit by the end of 2028.

Before the first unit retires, TVA will build a 1,450-MW combined cycle plant on the Cumberland reservation to be in operation by 2026. Replacement generation for the second unit has been deferred to allow consideration for a broader range of replacement options, TVA said.

The construction of the combined-cycle natural gas plant at Cumberland will deliver up to a 60% reduction in carbon emissions from the site, it said.

“Replacing retired generation with a natural gas plant is the best overall solution because it’s the only mature technology available today that can provide firm, dispatchable power by 2026 when the first Cumberland unit retires,” said TVA CEO Jeff Lyash. “In addition, natural gas supports continued reduction of carbon emissions by enabling the integration of renewables, such as solar and battery storage, all while maintaining system reliability.” 

TVA said it will continue to evaluate the coal fleet for retirement and replacement generation. Currently, Kingston Fossil Plant is undergoing an environmental review to determine the potential impacts of retirement and replacement. A draft Environmental Impact Statement is projected in Spring/Summer 2023.

Reliability, Resiliency, Safety and Affordability Flow from Small Modular Reactor Technology

January 9, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
January 9, 2023

New nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMR), have reached a point where they are able to help utilities address growing concerns about fulfilling their core mission: delivering safe, affordable, and reliable electric power.

Several industry trends are challenging utility executives’ abilities to balance those three key objectives.

A July report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) highlighted the growing threats to reliability, including extreme weather events, the growing proliferation of “inverter based resources” such as photovoltaic solar power and energy storage, and increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation.

The growth of renewable resources aimed at meeting state and federal goals aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions has been impressive. In the first half of the year, 24 percent of utility-scale generation in the United States came from renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, as NERC pointed out this summer, as renewable resources have proliferated, gas-fired generators are becoming “necessary balancing resources” for reliability, leading to an interdependence that poses “a major new reliability risk.”

In this environment, if utilities are going to stay on track to meet their clean energy targets while providing secure, safe and reliable electric power to meet growing demand, they are going to need a new solution.

“NuScale Power’s SMR technology offers a carbon-free energy solution with features, capability, and performance not found in current nuclear power facilities,” Karin Feldman, Vice President of NuScale’s Program Management Office, said in an interview.

Several utilities have already begun exploring the potential of a new generation of nuclear technology to help them meet both their clean energy and reliability needs as they work toward meeting growing demand.

NuScale’s project portfolio includes a six module, 462-MW VOYGR™ SMR power plant. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) plans to develop at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls for their Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP).

NuScale also has memorandums of understanding to evaluate the deployment of its SMR technology with Associated Electric Cooperative in Missouri and Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin.

“What we bring to the table is a technology that is smaller and simpler; that lowers total costs while providing high reliability and resilience, and greater safety,” said Feldman, who develops and manages NuScale’s portfolio of projects and establishes and maintains project controls, cost estimating, and risk management standards. She is also NuScale’s primary interface with the DOE.

Cost Comparisons

The smaller scale of NuScale’s reactors – 77 MW versus 700 MW or even 1,600 MW or more for conventional reactors – brings several cost advantages, Feldman said. Smaller reactors can be fabricated in a factory, which is cheaper than field fabrication, because it involves repetitive procedures that foster iterative improvement and economies of scale, she said. Smaller reactors also take less time to build, which lowers construction costs.

Because they are modular, an SMR does not force a utility to commit to participation in a nuclear project in the 1,000-MW to 2,000-MW size range. An SMR project can be scaled to meet demand, and modules can be added as demand requires, Feldman said. That helps reduce financial risk for a utility, she said.

Another, related consideration, highlighted by the supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is that much of NuScale’s technology can be locally sourced. “We are taking advantage of the U.S. supply chain to the greatest extent possible,” Feldman said. “We have some overseas manufacturers, but we are also engaged to develop additional U.S. capabilities in areas such as large-scale forgings.”

Reliability and Resiliency

Nuclear power plants generally have high reliability, over 92 percent, nearly twice the reliability of coal and natural gas plants, but the smaller, compact design of SMR technology can offer additional reliability advantages, Feldman said. Because NuScale plants are designed to scaled up in incremental steps, if any one of the individual reactors has an issue, the other reactors can continue to generate power, she explained.

NuScale’s SMR technology also enhances resiliency, Feldman said. The design calls for the reactors to be housed in a building below grade, hardening their vulnerability to airplane strikes and very large seismic events, she said.

An SMR plant also is designed with black start capability so that it can restart after a disruption without using the surrounding electric grid. “So, in the event of an emergency, it could be a first responder to the grid, one of the first generators to start up,” Feldman said.

And because the design calls for multiple reactors, a problem with one reactor does not require the entire plant to shut down. An SMR plant can also operate in island mode, serving as a self-sufficient energy source during an emergency, Feldman said.

In some ways, a NuScale SMR power plant resembles a microgrid. In fact, NuScale’s technology team has done a lot of analysis on microgrid capacity, Feldman said, noting that the analysis found that a 154-MW SMR plant could run for 12 years without refueling. “The technology is very good for mission critical functions and activities,” she said.

Safety First

Cost and resiliency are important considerations, but if a power plant, especially a nuclear power plant, is not safe, other considerations pale in comparison.

Safety is built into NuScale’s SMR design, Feldman said. “The SMR has a dual walled vessel design that gives it an unlimited coping period,” she said. “If an incident does occur, the plant can shut down without operator intervention or action and be safe and secure,” she said.

NuScale’s integrated design encompasses the reactor, steam generators and pressurizer and uses the natural action of circulation, eliminating the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.

If needed, the reactor shuts down and self cools indefinitely without the need for either alternating current or direct current power or additional water. The containment vessel is submerged in a heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool housed in a Seismic Category 1 reactor building as defined by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In essence, the unit continues to cool until the decay heat dissipates at which point the reactor is air cooled, Feldman said.

In 2018, the NRC found that NuScale’s SMR safety design eliminates the need for class 1E power, that is, power needed to maintain reactor coolant integrity and remain in a safe shutdown condition.

In August 2020, the NRC approved the overall design of NuScale’s SMR. In a next step, the NRC in July directed staff to issue a final rule certifying NuScale’s SMR design.

If approved, the certification would be published in the Federal Register and have the effect of law, providing even greater comfort to any entities exploring SMR technology to provide clean, emission free, reliable and affordable power, Feldman said.

The rulemaking is on NRC’s docket for a decision in November.

Finally, after a rigorous years long review by the NRC, the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER) regarding NuScale’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) methodology was issued. This is another tremendous “first” for NuScale’s technology. With the report’s approval of our methodology, an EPZ that is limited to the site boundary of the power plant is now achievable for a wide range of potential plant sites where a NuScale VOYGR™ SMR power plant could be located.

Small Modular Reactor Technology Delivers Reliability, Resiliency, Safety and Affordability

January 4, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
January 4, 2023

New nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMR), have reached a point where they are able to help utilities address growing concerns about fulfilling their core mission: delivering safe, affordable, and reliable electric power.

Several industry trends are challenging utility executives’ abilities to balance those three key objectives.

A July report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) highlighted the growing threats to reliability, including extreme weather events, the growing proliferation of “inverter based resources” such as photovoltaic solar power and energy storage, and increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation.

The growth of renewable resources aimed at meeting state and federal goals aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions has been impressive. In the first half of the year, 24 percent of utility-scale generation in the United States came from renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, as NERC pointed out this summer, as renewable resources have proliferated, gas-fired generators are becoming “necessary balancing resources” for reliability, leading to an interdependence that poses “a major new reliability risk.”

In this environment, if utilities are going to stay on track to meet their clean energy targets while providing secure, safe and reliable electric power to meet growing demand, they are going to need a new solution.

“NuScale Power’s SMR technology offers a carbon-free energy solution with features, capability, and performance not found in current nuclear power facilities,” Karin Feldman, Vice President of NuScale’s Program Management Office, said in an interview.

Several utilities have already begun exploring the potential of a new generation of nuclear technology to help them meet both their clean energy and reliability needs as they work toward meeting growing demand.

NuScale’s project portfolio includes a six module, 462-MW VOYGR™ SMR power plant. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) plans to develop at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls for their Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP).

NuScale also has memorandums of understanding to evaluate the deployment of its SMR technology with Associated Electric Cooperative in Missouri and Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin.

“What we bring to the table is a technology that is smaller and simpler; that lowers total costs while providing high reliability and resilience, and greater safety,” said Feldman, who develops and manages NuScale’s portfolio of projects and establishes and maintains project controls, cost estimating, and risk management standards. She is also NuScale’s primary interface with the DOE.

Cost Comparisons

The smaller scale of NuScale’s reactors – 77 MW versus 700 MW or even 1,600 MW or more for conventional reactors – brings several cost advantages, Feldman said. Smaller reactors can be fabricated in a factory, which is cheaper than field fabrication, because it involves repetitive procedures that foster iterative improvement and economies of scale, she said. Smaller reactors also take less time to build, which lowers construction costs.

Because they are modular, an SMR does not force a utility to commit to participation in a nuclear project in the 1,000-MW to 2,000-MW size range. An SMR project can be scaled to meet demand, and modules can be added as demand requires, Feldman said. That helps reduce financial risk for a utility, she said.

Another, related consideration, highlighted by the supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is that much of NuScale’s technology can be locally sourced. “We are taking advantage of the U.S. supply chain to the greatest extent possible,” Feldman said. “We have some overseas manufacturers, but we are also engaged to develop additional U.S. capabilities in areas such as large-scale forgings.”

Reliability and Resiliency

Nuclear power plants generally have high reliability, over 92 percent, nearly twice the reliability of coal and natural gas plants, but the smaller, compact design of SMR technology can offer additional reliability advantages, Feldman said. Because NuScale plants are designed to scaled up in incremental steps, if any one of the individual reactors has an issue, the other reactors can continue to generate power, she explained.

NuScale’s SMR technology also enhances resiliency, Feldman said. The design calls for the reactors to be housed in a building below grade, hardening their vulnerability to airplane strikes and very large seismic events, she said.

An SMR plant also is designed with black start capability so that it can restart after a disruption without using the surrounding electric grid. “So, in the event of an emergency, it could be a first responder to the grid, one of the first generators to start up,” Feldman said.

And because the design calls for multiple reactors, a problem with one reactor does not require the entire plant to shut down. An SMR plant can also operate in island mode, serving as a self-sufficient energy source during an emergency, Feldman said.

In some ways, a NuScale SMR power plant resembles a microgrid. In fact, NuScale’s technology team has done a lot of analysis on microgrid capacity, Feldman said, noting that the analysis found that a 154-MW SMR plant could run for 12 years without refueling. “The technology is very good for mission critical functions and activities,” she said.

Safety First

Cost and resiliency are important considerations, but if a power plant, especially a nuclear power plant, is not safe, other considerations pale in comparison.

Safety is built into NuScale’s SMR design, Feldman said. “The SMR has a dual walled vessel design that gives it an unlimited coping period,” she said. “If an incident does occur, the plant can shut down without operator intervention or action and be safe and secure,” she said.

NuScale’s integrated design encompasses the reactor, steam generators and pressurizer and uses the natural action of circulation, eliminating the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.

If needed, the reactor shuts down and self cools indefinitely without the need for either alternating current or direct current power or additional water. The containment vessel is submerged in a heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool housed in a Seismic Category 1 reactor building as defined by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In essence, the unit continues to cool until the decay heat dissipates at which point the reactor is air cooled, Feldman said.

In 2018, the NRC found that NuScale’s SMR safety design eliminates the need for class 1E power, that is, power needed to maintain reactor coolant integrity and remain in a safe shutdown condition.

In August 2020, the NRC approved the overall design of NuScale’s SMR. In a next step, the NRC in July directed staff to issue a final rule certifying NuScale’s SMR design.

If approved, the certification would be published in the Federal Register and have the effect of law, providing even greater comfort to any entities exploring SMR technology to provide clean, emission free, reliable and affordable power, Feldman said.

The rulemaking is on NRC’s docket for a decision in November.

Finally, after a rigorous years long review by the NRC, the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER) regarding NuScale’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) methodology was issued. This is another tremendous “first” for NuScale’s technology. With the report’s approval of our methodology, an EPZ that is limited to the site boundary of the power plant is now achievable for a wide range of potential plant sites where a NuScale VOYGR™ SMR power plant could be located.

Power Sector Seeks Solutions for Supply Chain Issues

January 3, 2023

by Darrell Proctor
POWER Magazine
January Issue, 2023

The pandemic exposed issues with the global supply chain that provides resources for power generation. The pressure of having enough equipment to meet industry needs has spurred an emphasis on domestic manufacturing in the U.S. and elsewhere.

See story here: https://www.nxtbook.com/accessintelligence/POWER/power-january-2023/index.php#/p/26

Small Modular Reactor Technology Delivers Reliability, Resiliency, Safety, and Affordability

December 17, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
December 17, 2022

New nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMR), have reached a point where they are able to help utilities address growing concerns about fulfilling their core mission: delivering safe, affordable, and reliable electric power.

Several industry trends are challenging utility executives’ abilities to balance those three key objectives.

A July report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) highlighted the growing threats to reliability, including extreme weather events, the growing proliferation of “inverter based resources” such as photovoltaic solar power and energy storage, and increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation.

The growth of renewable resources aimed at meeting state and federal goals aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions has been impressive. In the first half of the year, 24 percent of utility-scale generation in the United States came from renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, as NERC pointed out this summer, as renewable resources have proliferated, gas-fired generators are becoming “necessary balancing resources” for reliability, leading to an interdependence that poses “a major new reliability risk.”

In this environment, if utilities are going to stay on track to meet their clean energy targets while providing secure, safe and reliable electric power to meet growing demand, they are going to need a new solution.

“NuScale Power’s SMR technology offers a carbon-free energy solution with features, capability, and performance not found in current nuclear power facilities,” Karin Feldman, Vice President of NuScale’s Program Management Office, said in an interview.

Several utilities have already begun exploring the potential of a new generation of nuclear technology to help them meet both their clean energy and reliability needs as they work toward meeting growing demand.

NuScale’s project portfolio includes a six module, 462-MW VOYGR™ SMR power plant. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) plans to develop at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls for their Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP).

NuScale also has memorandums of understanding to evaluate the deployment of its SMR technology with Associated Electric Cooperative in Missouri and Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin.

“What we bring to the table is a technology that is smaller and simpler; that lowers total costs while providing high reliability and resilience, and greater safety,” said Feldman, who develops and manages NuScale’s portfolio of projects and establishes and maintains project controls, cost estimating, and risk management standards. She is also NuScale’s primary interface with the DOE.

Cost Comparisons

The smaller scale of NuScale’s reactors – 77 MW versus 700 MW or even 1,600 MW or more for conventional reactors – brings several cost advantages, Feldman said. Smaller reactors can be fabricated in a factory, which is cheaper than field fabrication, because it involves repetitive procedures that foster iterative improvement and economies of scale, she said. Smaller reactors also take less time to build, which lowers construction costs.

Because they are modular, an SMR does not force a utility to commit to participation in a nuclear project in the 1,000-MW to 2,000-MW size range. An SMR project can be scaled to meet demand, and modules can be added as demand requires, Feldman said. That helps reduce financial risk for a utility, she said.

Another, related consideration, highlighted by the supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is that much of NuScale’s technology can be locally sourced. “We are taking advantage of the U.S. supply chain to the greatest extent possible,” Feldman said. “We have some overseas manufacturers, but we are also engaged to develop additional U.S. capabilities in areas such as large-scale forgings.”

Reliability and Resiliency

Nuclear power plants generally have high reliability, over 92 percent, nearly twice the reliability of coal and natural gas plants, but the smaller, compact design of SMR technology can offer additional reliability advantages, Feldman said. Because NuScale plants are designed to scaled up in incremental steps, if any one of the individual reactors has an issue, the other reactors can continue to generate power, she explained.

NuScale’s SMR technology also enhances resiliency, Feldman said. The design calls for the reactors to be housed in a building below grade, hardening their vulnerability to airplane strikes and very large seismic events, she said.

An SMR plant also is designed with black start capability so that it can restart after a disruption without using the surrounding electric grid. “So, in the event of an emergency, it could be a first responder to the grid, one of the first generators to start up,” Feldman said.

And because the design calls for multiple reactors, a problem with one reactor does not require the entire plant to shut down. An SMR plant can also operate in island mode, serving as a self-sufficient energy source during an emergency, Feldman said.

In some ways, a NuScale SMR power plant resembles a microgrid. In fact, NuScale’s technology team has done a lot of analysis on microgrid capacity, Feldman said, noting that the analysis found that a 154-MW SMR plant could run for 12 years without refueling. “The technology is very good for mission critical functions and activities,” she said.

Safety First

Cost and resiliency are important considerations, but if a power plant, especially a nuclear power plant, is not safe, other considerations pale in comparison.

Safety is built into NuScale’s SMR design, Feldman said. “The SMR has a dual walled vessel design that gives it an unlimited coping period,” she said. “If an incident does occur, the plant can shut down without operator intervention or action and be safe and secure,” she said.

NuScale’s integrated design encompasses the reactor, steam generators and pressurizer and uses the natural action of circulation, eliminating the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.

If needed, the reactor shuts down and self cools indefinitely without the need for either alternating current or direct current power or additional water. The containment vessel is submerged in a heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool housed in a Seismic Category 1 reactor building as defined by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In essence, the unit continues to cool until the decay heat dissipates at which point the reactor is air cooled, Feldman said.

In 2018, the NRC found that NuScale’s SMR safety design eliminates the need for class 1E power, that is, power needed to maintain reactor coolant integrity and remain in a safe shutdown condition.

In August 2020, the NRC approved the overall design of NuScale’s SMR. In a next step, the NRC in July directed staff to issue a final rule certifying NuScale’s SMR design.

If approved, the certification would be published in the Federal Register and have the effect of law, providing even greater comfort to any entities exploring SMR technology to provide clean, emission free, reliable and affordable power, Feldman said.

The rulemaking is on NRC’s docket for a decision in November.

Finally, after a rigorous years long review by the NRC, the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER) regarding NuScale’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) methodology was issued. This is another tremendous “first” for NuScale’s technology. With the report’s approval of our methodology, an EPZ that is limited to the site boundary of the power plant is now achievable for a wide range of potential plant sites where a NuScale VOYGR™ SMR power plant could be located.

NuScale, UAMPS, Others to Assess Small Nuclear Reactors for Hydrogen Production

December 16, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
December 16, 2022

NuScale Power and its partners, including Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) and Shell Global Solutions, are assessing the development of a process for producing hydrogen using small modular nuclear reactors.

In addition to UAMPS and Shell, research participants in the project also include Idaho National Laboratory, Fuel Cell Energy, FPoliSolutions, and GSE Solutions.

In July 2019, UAMPS members executed power sales contracts totaling more than 150 megawatts (MW) of subscriptions in UAMPS’ Carbon Free Power Project, a 12-module small modular reactor (SMR) being designed and built by NuScale at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.

The hydrogen project calls for development of an economically optimized Integrated Energy System (IES) using electricity and process heat from a NuScale small modular reactor.

NuScale said the ultimate aim would be to balance and stabilize power grids dominated by renewable energies through hydrogen production, for example, by producing hydrogen when electric demand is low and, when energy demand is high and renewable energy production is low, using the hydrogen as an end-product or as fuel to create electricity using a reversible solid oxide fuel cell.

Each NuScale nuclear power module produces 250 MW of thermal energy that can be used to drive a steam turbine generator or for a variety of industrial processes, including the production of clean hydrogen, Diane Hughes, NuScale’s vice president of marketing and communications, said via email. A single 77-MW NuScale power module, working with a state-of-the-art fuel cell, is capable of producing up to 2,053 kilograms of hydrogen per hour, or nearly 50 metric tons per day, she said.

NuScale plans to conduct a techno-economic analysis to assess the number of NuScale power modules needed for hydrogen production and the quantity of hydrogen stored for subsequent electricity production. In addition, local economic factors from the UAMPS Carbon Free Power Project will be assessed, such as the impact in the Western Energy Imbalance Market, resource adequacy programs, and other local market factors.

In the second phase, NuScale plans to modify a control room simulator to evaluate the dynamics of the integrated energy system, including models for a solid oxide electrolysis system for hydrogen production and a fuel cell for electricity production.

One of the concepts being explored in the study is whether NuScale’s multi-module SMR power plant design could produce reliable clean electricity for the grid while allocating one or more modules to economically produce hydrogen when electricity demand is low, Hughes said.

Department of Energy Reports Major Breakthrough in Fusion Energy Research

December 13, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 13, 2022

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Dec. 13 announced the achievement of fusion ignition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a development that DOE said is a “major scientific breakthrough decades in the making that will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power.”

DOE reported that on December 5, a team at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) conducted the first controlled fusion experiment in history to reach this milestone, also known as scientific energy breakeven, meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it.

LLNL’s experiment surpassed the fusion threshold by delivering 2.05 megajoules (MJ) of energy to the target, resulting in 3.15 MJ of fusion energy output, demonstrating for the first time a most fundamental science basis for inertial fusion energy. 

DOE said that many advanced science and technology developments are still needed to achieve simple, affordable inertial fusion energy to power homes and businesses. DOE is in the process of restarting a broad-based, coordinated inertial fusion energy program in the U.S.

Fusion is the process by which two light nuclei combine to form a single heavier nucleus, releasing a large amount of energy.

In the 1960s, a group of scientists at LLNL hypothesized that lasers could be used to induce fusion in a laboratory setting. This idea became inertial confinement fusion, kicking off more than 60 years of research and development in lasers, optics, diagnostics, target fabrication, computer modeling and simulation, and experimental design.

To pursue this concept, LLNL built a series of increasingly powerful laser systems, leading to the creation of NIF, the world’s largest and most energetic laser system.

NIF, which is located at LLNL in Livermore, Calif., is the size of a sports stadium and uses laser beams to create temperatures and pressures like those in the cores of stars and giant planets, and inside exploding nuclear weapons.

Click here for a news conference held on Dec. 13 by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and other officials related to the announcement.

Small Modular Reactor Technology Delivers Reliability, Resiliency, Safety and Affordability

December 13, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
December 13, 2022

New nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMR), have reached a point where they are able to help utilities address growing concerns about fulfilling their core mission: delivering safe, affordable, and reliable electric power.

Several industry trends are challenging utility executives’ abilities to balance those three key objectives.

A July report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) highlighted the growing threats to reliability, including extreme weather events, the growing proliferation of “inverter based resources” such as photovoltaic solar power and energy storage, and increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation.

The growth of renewable resources aimed at meeting state and federal goals aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions has been impressive. In the first half of the year, 24 percent of utility-scale generation in the United States came from renewable sources, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, as NERC pointed out this summer, as renewable resources have proliferated, gas-fired generators are becoming “necessary balancing resources” for reliability, leading to an interdependence that poses “a major new reliability risk.”

In this environment, if utilities are going to stay on track to meet their clean energy targets while providing secure, safe and reliable electric power to meet growing demand, they are going to need a new solution.

“NuScale Power’s SMR technology offers a carbon-free energy solution with features, capability, and performance not found in current nuclear power facilities,” Karin Feldman, Vice President of NuScale’s Program Management Office, said in an interview.

Several utilities have already begun exploring the potential of a new generation of nuclear technology to help them meet both their clean energy and reliability needs as they work toward meeting growing demand.

NuScale’s project portfolio includes a six module, 462-MW VOYGR™ SMR power plant. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) plans to develop at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls for their Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP).

NuScale also has memorandums of understanding to evaluate the deployment of its SMR technology with Associated Electric Cooperative in Missouri and Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin.

“What we bring to the table is a technology that is smaller and simpler; that lowers total costs while providing high reliability and resilience, and greater safety,” said Feldman, who develops and manages NuScale’s portfolio of projects and establishes and maintains project controls, cost estimating, and risk management standards. She is also NuScale’s primary interface with the DOE.

Cost Comparisons

The smaller scale of NuScale’s reactors – 77 MW versus 700 MW or even 1,600 MW or more for conventional reactors – brings several cost advantages, Feldman said. Smaller reactors can be fabricated in a factory, which is cheaper than field fabrication, because it involves repetitive procedures that foster iterative improvement and economies of scale, she said. Smaller reactors also take less time to build, which lowers construction costs.

Because they are modular, an SMR does not force a utility to commit to participation in a nuclear project in the 1,000-MW to 2,000-MW size range. An SMR project can be scaled to meet demand, and modules can be added as demand requires, Feldman said. That helps reduce financial risk for a utility, she said.

Another, related consideration, highlighted by the supply chain disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is that much of NuScale’s technology can be locally sourced. “We are taking advantage of the U.S. supply chain to the greatest extent possible,” Feldman said. “We have some overseas manufacturers, but we are also engaged to develop additional U.S. capabilities in areas such as large-scale forgings.”

Reliability and Resiliency

Nuclear power plants generally have high reliability, over 92 percent, nearly twice the reliability of coal and natural gas plants, but the smaller, compact design of SMR technology can offer additional reliability advantages, Feldman said. Because NuScale plants are designed to scaled up in incremental steps, if any one of the individual reactors has an issue, the other reactors can continue to generate power, she explained.

NuScale’s SMR technology also enhances resiliency, Feldman said. The design calls for the reactors to be housed in a building below grade, hardening their vulnerability to airplane strikes and very large seismic events, she said.

An SMR plant also is designed with black start capability so that it can restart after a disruption without using the surrounding electric grid. “So, in the event of an emergency, it could be a first responder to the grid, one of the first generators to start up,” Feldman said.

And because the design calls for multiple reactors, a problem with one reactor does not require the entire plant to shut down. An SMR plant can also operate in island mode, serving as a self-sufficient energy source during an emergency, Feldman said.

In some ways, a NuScale SMR power plant resembles a microgrid. In fact, NuScale’s technology team has done a lot of analysis on microgrid capacity, Feldman said, noting that the analysis found that a 154-MW SMR plant could run for 12 years without refueling. “The technology is very good for mission critical functions and activities,” she said.

Safety First

Cost and resiliency are important considerations, but if a power plant, especially a nuclear power plant, is not safe, other considerations pale in comparison.

Safety is built into NuScale’s SMR design, Feldman said. “The SMR has a dual walled vessel design that gives it an unlimited coping period,” she said. “If an incident does occur, the plant can shut down without operator intervention or action and be safe and secure,” she said.

NuScale’s integrated design encompasses the reactor, steam generators and pressurizer and uses the natural action of circulation, eliminating the need for large primary piping and reactor coolant pumps.

If needed, the reactor shuts down and self cools indefinitely without the need for either alternating current or direct current power or additional water. The containment vessel is submerged in a heat sink for core cooling in a below grade reactor pool housed in a Seismic Category 1 reactor building as defined by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In essence, the unit continues to cool until the decay heat dissipates at which point the reactor is air cooled, Feldman said.

In 2018, the NRC found that NuScale’s SMR safety design eliminates the need for class 1E power, that is, power needed to maintain reactor coolant integrity and remain in a safe shutdown condition.

In August 2020, the NRC approved the overall design of NuScale’s SMR. In a next step, the NRC in July directed staff to issue a final rule certifying NuScale’s SMR design.

If approved, the certification would be published in the Federal Register and have the effect of law, providing even greater comfort to any entities exploring SMR technology to provide clean, emission free, reliable and affordable power, Feldman said.

The rulemaking is on NRC’s docket for a decision in November.

Finally, after a rigorous years long review by the NRC, the Final Safety Evaluation Report (FSER) regarding NuScale’s Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) methodology was issued. This is another tremendous “first” for NuScale’s technology. With the report’s approval of our methodology, an EPZ that is limited to the site boundary of the power plant is now achievable for a wide range of potential plant sites where a NuScale VOYGR™ SMR power plant could be located.