The chief executive officer of NuScale has defended the company’s small modular nuclear reactor business, saying work continues in the US and two other countries after the company cancelled its first plant due to rising costs.

“I know from a financial perspective we have $200 million [€184m] in the bank. That’s cash, no debt. So we have a healthy balance sheet,” John Hopkins said at an American Nuclear Society conference in Washington.

Hopkins said NuScale projects in Romania, Poland and South Korea continue to develop. Last week Poland’s copper miner KGHM Polska Miedz and Romania’s nuclear new-build company RoPower confirmed their commitment to proposed projects using NuScale’s Voygr SMR technology.