UAMPS Signs Updated Agreements for Small Modular Reactor Project

January 19, 2023

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
January 19, 2023

Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems recently signed an updated agreement that will help move its nuclear Carbon Free Power Project with NuScale Power forward.

Specifically, the project management committee for the Carbon Free Power Project reaffirmed its commitment to NuScale’s small modular reactor technology by approving a new budget and plan of finance agreement and an updated development cost reimbursement agreement.

The development cost reimbursement agreement establishes an updated target price of $89 per megawatt hour, which reflects the changing financial landscape for the development of energy projects nationwide, NuScale said.

The budget and plan of finance agreement provides UAMPS with an option to withdraw from the Carbon Free Power Project and be reimbursed for most out-of-pocket expenses if the per megawatt hour price of energy from the project exceeds a certain threshold.

The development cost reimbursement agreement was reached with the receipt and acceptance of the CFPP’s Class 3 project cost estimate, which refined the anticipated total cost of the project.

The Class 3 project cost estimate determined that the cost of the CFPP has been influenced by external factors such as inflationary pressures and increases in the price of steel, electrical equipment and other construction commodities not seen for more than 40 years.

As an example, NuScale said the producer price index for commodities such as carbon steel piping and fabricated steel plates have increased by more than 50 percent since 2020. These inflationary pressures are increasing the costs for all power generation and infrastructure projects, the company said.

NuScale and the CFPP have yet to execute the amendment to the development cost reimbursement agreement adopting the new price target.

The CFPP, sited near Idaho Falls, Idaho, at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, would be the first NuScale Power SMR plant to begin operation in the United States.

The plant would deploy six, 77-megawatt modules to generate 462 MW of carbon-free electricity. The CFPP remains on schedule and is a cost-competitive, carbon-free and dispatchable resource, NuScale said.

UAMPS is a joint action agency serving 49 members in seven Western states.