California-based Fluor said IHI’s immediate investment of $20m might be followed by another $20m later.
In addition to IHI’s ownership interest, IHI will become a global manufacturing partner and have the opportunity to provide design services and heavy manufacturing of the steel plate reinforced concrete wall structures for NuScale SMR projects in which Fluor has the lead role.
The investment from IHI follows a recent investment and partnership agreement with JGC Holdings that includes a $40m cash investment for the deployment of the company’s nuclear plants.
Fluor and NuScale are working for Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (Uamps) to bring the world’s first SMR project to commercialisation.
In August 2020, NuScale’s SMR became the first and only design so far to receive approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The NuScale SMR is a light-water reactor plant intended to supply energy for electrical generation, district heating, desalination, and process heat applications. It features a fully factory-fabricated NuScale power module capable of generating 60 MW of electricity using what NuScale says is a safer, smaller, and scalable version of pressurised water reactor technology.
