NuScale Proposes Action Plan For SMR Deployment In UK

7 Sep (NucNet): US-based small modular reactor (SMR) developer NuScale Power has announced the start of an action plan for the deployment of SMR technology in the UK in the 2020s. NuScale said in a statement that the plan outlines how the company’s “multi-billion pound” UK SMR venture could involve UK companies, which are to provide more than 85% of the content required for deployment in the UK. “ Our UK SMR action plan sets out a clear vision for NuScale’s technology to be rolling off production lines in UK factories, generating power for UK homes in the 2020s and transforming the UK into a hub for export into a lucrative global market”, Tom Mundy, NuScale’s managing director for UK and Europe, was quoted in the statement as saying. Last month, Tom Greatrex, the chief executive of the UK Nuclear Industry Association, said that with a potential global market for SMRs valued at as much as £400 bn (€440bn, $520bn), the government must provide clarity as soon as possible if the energy, industrial and export opportunities of a UK SMR are to be realised. In March 2016, the UK government announced a competition to identify the “best value” SMR in the UK – paving the way for the country to build one of the world’s first SMRs. NuScale said its UK action plan comes after the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted its SMR design certification application in March 2017. NuScale expects regulatory approval in the US to be granted in the early 2020s, leading to an initial deployment of an SMR at a site in Idaho by the mid-2020s. NuScale was the first company to submit an SMR design for certification in the US. According to earlier statements by NuScale, its SMR technology includes scalable plants, and the facility output can be incrementally increased depending on demand. The technology’s operational flexibility can be integrated with other energy sources like wind and solar to provide consistent power and to help enable stable grid performance.