On Jan. 20, the U.S. Department of Energy once again showed its support for the research and development of small modular nuclear reactors. Through a draft Funding Opportunity Announcement, DOE said it will establish cost-shared agreements with private industry to support the design and licensing of SMRs.

SMRs, by DOE’s description, are about one-third the size of current, large reactors. The advanced designs are expected to offer safety, siting, construction and economic benefits to manufacturers and power providers.

The FOA announcement by DOE gives the nuclear industry a chance to submit input on SMRs in advance of a full FOA, which the DOE said will support first-of-a-kind engineering, design certification and licensing through a cost-shared partnership. DOE said the full FOA will fund up to two SMR designs with the goal of deploying those reactors by 2022. Funding is expected to be around $452 million, which is subject to Congressional approval.

In Feb. 2011, Westinghouse introduced their SMR, a 200 MWe-class, integral pressurized water reactor. Westinghouse said by building off half a century of advanced nuclear reactor experience, the Westinghouse SMR design will use passive safety systems while reducing the amount of plant components required. Westinghouse welcomed DOE’s announcement of the FOA.

“Westinghouse will apply for DOE's small modular reactor investment funds with a consortium of utilities. Access to this investment fund helps lower the barrier to market entry for American companies. Virtually all energy sources that feed the national grid have been developed through public investments in public-private research and development partnerships,” said Kate Jackson, chief technology officer and senior vice president of Research and Technology at Westinghouse Electric Co.

Also responding to DOE’s announcement was Denver-based Hyperion Power Generation (HPG).

“We are very encouraged by the Congress and Administration action to provide funding to support first-of-a-kind engineering, design certification and licensing of next generation reactors through a cost-shared partnership. We were very pleased that the opportunity is open not only to current LWR based reactor designs, but also to next generation reactors such as the Hyperion Power Module,” said Hyperion CEO Bob Prince.

HPG’s reactor is called the Hyperion Power Module (HPM). It is a liquid metal-cooled 25 MW small modular reactor that is fueled with uranium nitride.

Just last October, Fluor agreed to invest over $30 million in NuScale Power, the developer of a modular, scalable 45 MWe light water reactor.

In the March issue of Nuclear Power International magazine, I will discuss some of the SMR designs being developed in the U.S., as well as other advanced reactor technologies being researched.