U.S. Sustains Support For Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Date posted: 02/17/15

William Pentland, a supporter of solar energy, reports that despite the political fallout from the Fukushima tsunami and related nuclear plant damage, the U.S. Department of Energy remains committed to commercializing small modular nuclear reactor -SMR- technologies. The International Atomic Energy Agency -IAEA- defines small reactors as under 300 megawatts -MW. Last week, the DOE signed a cooperative agreement with Babcock and Wilcox for about 150 million dollars in funding to support development and licensing of the B and W mPower technology over the next five years and plans to deploy the modular, advanced light water reactor system, which can operate for four or more years without refueling. The basic module has a generating capacity of about 180 megawatts. A single facility can be designed to accommodate multiple reactor modules based on the infrastructure constraints and load-growth projections. B&W claims that the overnight cost for an mPower reactor is about 5,000 dollars per kW.