On December 12, 2013, the US Department of Energy awarded $226 million to an Oregon company, NuScale, to design, develop, and prepare for licensing review its first small-scale nuclear reactor. A grant for a similar invention was made in 2012 to Babcock & Wilcox, a company with long experience building reactors for nuclear submarines. A… Keep reading →
Thursday, December 12th, was a big day at the Energy Department. In addition to announcing $8 billion in new loan guarantees for advanced domestic fossil energy projects and a new award for innovative engineering, design certification and licensing for small modular reactors — a path to advance safe, cost-effective nuclear energy deployment — Secretary Moniz kicked off yesterday’s American Energy and… Keep reading →
US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has alluded to the promise of small modular reactors (SMRs) multiple times over the past few months, noting that they may offer benefits in terms of financing, costs and security, but warning that realistic expectations suggest these reactors are unlikely to come onstream for almost a decade. “We remain very… Keep reading →
