21 Feb (NucNet): US utility the Tennessee Valley Authority will pay nuclear equipment company Babcock & Wilcox to complete extensive design work and apply for permission to build a small modular reactor (SMR) at a site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, TVA said yesterday.
The two entities did not disclose the value of the contract, which will be paid in part by the US Department of Energy under a programme to encourage nuclear innovation.
TVA said the announcement is a step forward in a programme to develop a new class of nuclear reactor that can be mostly built in a factory, shipped by rail or barge, deployed quickly, and sold around the world, especially in places where the power grid could not handle a larger unit.
TVA and B&W signed a contract on 7 February 2013, formalising the process toward the eventual submittal and Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of a licensing application for a B&W mPower SMR at Clinch River, Oak Ridge.
The agreement was the first “definitive milestone” in the DOE’s SMR licensing technical support programme, which aims for commercial demonstration of SMRs by 2022.
The DOE chose TVA in November 2012 for cost sharing in the design and licensing of the B&W mPower SMR as part of the mPower America Team.
“TVA and B&W have now officially launched their team effort towards evaluating this new technology for the nuclear industry and starting the analysis process at TVA’s Clinch River site,” said Joe Hoagland, TVA senior vice-president for policy and oversight.
The contract announced yesterday defines respective responsibilities and work scope for TVA and B&W in preparing a licence application for NRC review, including a Clinch River Site geological characterisation, preliminary safety analysis report, and site environmental report.
Work under the contract will begin at the Clinch River Site once B&W mPower and DOE sign a cooperative agreement for the grant funds. The DOE programme, which provides 452 million US dollars (USD) (342 million euro) in funding over five years, has received more than USD 67 million in appropriations from Congress. Under the programme, the DOE will fund as much as 50 percent of the cost of design and licensing.
TVA is evaluating the Clinch River Site for potential deployment of up to four B&W SMRs. Some site characterisation work is already under way as part of the licence application preparation, expected to be submitted to the NRC in 2015.
B&W’s mPower reactor is being designed to produce 180 megawatts, about one-sixth the size of large light-water reactors being built today. More of the equipment will be constructed in factories and shipped by rail to the plant site, resulting in reduced construction time and more standardisation from plant to plant.
B&W said other potential benefits include fully underground containment for improved safety and security, and clean base-load generation capacity in smaller, more flexible, lower-cost increments.
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