​The only accredited project in the West to build small modular reactors is dead, they say British newspaper The Telegraph, recalling the failure in Idaho (USA) of the American nuclear developer NuScale Power. The concept looked great on paper, but there were serious questions about its implementation, reports The Telegraph.

The original plan was for Romania to develop these SMRs after the US. With the project failing in the US, Energy Minister Sebastian Burdugia now says Romania could become the first country in the world to have such small modular reactors (SMRs). Meanwhile, other European countries are interested in the technologies of other developers.

Unfeasible project in USA, good for Romania

“The Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP) in Idaho will be the first SMR NuScale power plant. (…) For the CFPP project, which is more advanced than the SMR project in Romania, NuScale has already placed a long-term order. – durable materials needed to start production of the first NuScale Power modules with Doosan Enerbility,” NuScale answered some questions from HotNews.ro in September.

A few weeks later, on November 8, NuScale announced that an innovative Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project had been canceled in the US, citing a 53% cost increase. In addition, NuScale Power also faces a number of allegations that it awarded a controversial contract worth about $37 billion to a “bogus customer,” Standard Power.

The failure of the project is worrisome because NuScale is the only developer outside of Russia and China to be certified for SMR development. The project involved building six 77-megawatt SMRs (totaling 462 MW) near Idaho Falls at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory and selling the products to local utilities that sponsored the project, The Telegraph reported.

Despite the failure in the US, Energy Minister Sebastián Bourduya continues to show off the project, claiming that Romania “could become the first country in the world to have an SMR at this level,” in Deutschland.

The minister’s optimism goes even further. Not only will Romania be the first country to implement an innovative project in the field of nuclear energy, but the supply of energy produced by these SMRs will be several years earlier. “The SMR modular nuclear power plant project from Deutschland has entered the second phase. In 2027, if we talk about an extremely ambitious time frame, it could provide energy,” Burduya told Digi24 recently. So far, both NuScale and Romanian authorities have talked about the end of the decade as the deadline for putting the reactors into operation.

Why the NuScale project failed in the US, even though it had huge support from the US state

As of 2019, the cost of the project has increased from US$5.3 billion to US$9.3 billion due to rising supply chain costs, interest rates and inflation. The project’s completion date has been pushed back from 2026 to 2029, prompting several utilities to pull out, The Telegraph reports.

NuScale said in March that moving forward with the project would require customers to contract for 80 percent of SMR production, though less than 25 percent has been sold so far. A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a think tank critical of SMR technology, found that costs have risen from $55 per megawatt-hour to $89 per MWh.

The decision to place the first American SMR in Idaho Falls made sense, according to The Telegraph. The town is small (population 70,000) and is home to the Idaho National Laboratory, which has specialized in nuclear research for the federal government since the 1940s. The project also enjoys support from a presidential administration, which is becoming increasingly rare in the US. The Trump administration approved a $1.4 billion plan to support the cost of the project, and support has continued under President Joe Biden.

Nuclear power is also being supported by the Biden Inflation Relief Act with tax credits both to support production at existing nuclear plants and to encourage investment in SMRs and other modern reactors.

The BWRX-300 is coming close and is attracting interest from the UK, Sweden, Poland and the US

The Telegraph believes that while the failure of the NuScale Idaho project is a blow, it is not final. First, the project did not use the same design approved by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but was an earlier version of the 50 MW technology that was certified in July 2022. Approval for the larger version, with a capacity of 77 MW, in a six-unit configuration, is still pending. NuScale has been constantly changing the design, which doesn’t help control costs at all.

The overall size is likely suitable for larger reactors, such as GE’s Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) BWRX-300, which uses existing technology from hot water reactor developers, unlike the NuScale design, which included features not found in existing reactors, says . Teleprof.

The BWRX-300 has successfully passed the first two stages of nuclear certification in Canada and recently passed the first stage of approval in Poland for six facilities. The US, UK and Sweden are interested in the technology, and design approval is pending.

According to The Telepraph, Idaho’s power companies had no experience in the nuclear industry, and NuScale itself is an inexperienced developer.

Instead, GEH has signed an agreement with experienced nuclear operator Ontario Power Generation to build four BWRX-300s at its Darlington site, with the first unit due to enter service in 2029. This project will provide a stronger barometer of the feasibility of SMR. Failure to do so would be a major blow to the sector, as GE and Hitachi are experienced nuclear power developers with technology based on existing operating reactors.

Read more about the NuScale project:

• Serious allegations against the company that will produce nuclear mini-reactors from Doicești / NuScale Power responds that these are attacks aimed at lowering the share price
• Huge failure: Small modular reactor project canceled in the USA / NuScale has problems with trust / Position of the Ministry of Energy: Romania maintains trust in SMR technologies
• Why Germany’s small nuclear reactors are increasing / Americans with NuScale Power say that the increase in capacity will not affect safety