Tax-payer money urged for funding Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs)

Newhouse and Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., led an effort to get 17 Republican representatives to send a letter to Trump last week asking that he include money for the Department of Energy’s small modular reactors in his fiscal 2018 budget request to Congress.

The president’s budget proposal is expected to be released later this month……..

Money would be used for continued cost sharing among DOE and small modular reactor developers to help reduce the risk associated with significant cost and uncertainty related to Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification, NRC site permitting and design finalization work before construction may begin.

NuScale Power, which has ties to the Tri-Cities, submitted the first design certification application in the United States to the NRC Dec. 31. The NRC accepted it for review in March, confirming the 12,000-page application contained the technical information needed to conduct the review.

The NRC has said the application review will take about three years and four months.

Areva was awarded the contract to manufacture the initial fuel for NuScale’s small modular reactor. It also provided licensing, testing and fuel expertise for the NRC application, with much of the work done in Richland.

NuScale plans to place its first small modular reactor in Idaho, possibly at the Idaho National Laboratory, to produce power for the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.

Energy Northwest, of Richland, would operate the reactor. It would gain operational experience to eventually bring small modular reactors to Washington state, preferably to the Tri-Cities, according to Energy Northwest…….

However, nuclear critics point out that the small modular reactors remain unproven. Because none has been built, questions remain about whether they would be safer or more economical than full-size reactors….http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/hanford/article149108814.html