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US regulators Certify first Small Nuclear Reactor Design

Accepted submission by at 2022-07-30 06:08:58 from the I want one dept.
Techonomics

US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor design

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/us-regulators-will-certify-first-small-nuclear-reactor-design/ [arstechnica.com]

On Friday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that it would be issuing a certification to a new nuclear reactor design, making it just the seventh that has been approved for use in the US. But in some ways, it's a first: the design, from a company called NuScale [nuscalepower.com], is a small modular reactor that can be constructed at a central facility and then moved to the site where it will be operated.

Once complete, the certification is published in the Federal Register, allowing the design to be used in the US. Friday's announcement says that the NRC is all set to take the publication step.

The NRC will still have to weigh in on the sites where any of these reactors are deployed. Currently, one such site is in the works: a project called the Carbon Free Power Project, which will be situated at Idaho National Lab. That's expected to be operational in 2030 but has been facing some financial uncertainty. Utilities that might use the power produced there have grown hesitant to commit money to the project.


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