ECA Forum: Hosting New Nuclear Development kicks off TOMORROW
ECA Staff | 8/2/2022
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Tomorrow marks the kickoff of the ECA Forum: Hosting New Nuclear Development - a first-of-a-kind meeting bringing together current and potential host communities supporting nuclear as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy with advanced nuclear technology and project developers, the U.S. Department of Energy, utilities, academia and nuclear experts.
- Dr. Katy Huff, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy
- Commissioner David Wright, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Todd Shrader, Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations
- John Kotek, Nuclear Energy Institute
- Christine King, Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear
- Dr. Ashley Finan, National Reactor Innovation Center
- and other great speakers.
The Forum will also feature case studies where there is already progress on the ground: around the Idaho National Laboratory; Richland, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Kemmerer, Wyoming; and Portsmouth, Ohio. ECA looks forward to hearing from the teams – developers, local government representatives, power purchasers and economic development entities – on how they are working together and what other potential hosts
should know to build support from the ground up that matches the greatest bipartisan support in Congress for new nuclear energy development in the U.S. in decades.
For more information, please visit the ECA Forum webpage.
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS!
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SAVE OUR DATES
September 21-23, 2022
NEW VENUE: CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT IN ARLINGTON, VA!
We are pleased to host the 2022 National Cleanup Workshop at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA. Join us to discuss a new era of cleanup success. Hear from senior DOE officials, local government officials, and industry leaders about DOE's cleanup priorities, the future of the workforce, and more.
Additional information on registration and hotel room blocks is available here. We look forward to seeing you in September!
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NRC moves to issue final design certification for NuScale nuclear module
POWER | 7/29/2022
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has indicated it will certify NuScale’s 50-MWe (160 MWth) small modular reactor (SMR) design, marking another definitive milestone for the reactor vendor and its technology prospects.
The NRC on July 29 said it directed staff to issue a final rule that certifies the standard SMR design, for which NuScale submitted an application in December 2016. The certification, which means the design meets the agency’s applicable safety requirements, will be effective 30 days after the NRC publishes that rule in the Federal Register.
NuScale’s 50-MWe module on Aug. 28, 2020, became the first SMR to receive a final safety evaluation report (FSER) from the NRC as part of a Phase 6 review—the last and final phase—of NuScale’s Design Certification Application (DCA). Issuance of the final design certification will be imperative
for projects that seek a combined license from the NRC that reference the certified design.
“An application for a nuclear power plant combined license that references a certified design will not need to address any of the issues resolved by the design certification rule. Instead, the combined license application and the NRC’s safety review would address any remaining safety and environmental issues for the proposed nuclear power plant. The design certification approves the NuScale reactor’s ‘design control document,’ which is incorporated by reference in
the final rule,” the NRC said on Friday.
A Still-Needed Design Approval
While NuScale has several construction prospects underway worldwide, only one NuScale project is under active development in the U.S. CFPP LLC, an entity wholly owned by the Utah state energy services interlocal agency Utah Associated Municipal
Power Systems (UAMPS), is spearheading the 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project—the first VOYGR-6 power plant—at an Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Project partners CFPP, Fluor, and NuScale are targeting a 2029 startup and commissioning timeframe for the Carbon Free Power Project. The partners are also actively developing a combined license application (COLA). CFPP has said it expects to submit the COLA to the NRC in early
2024 in accordance with the regulatory agency’s 10 CFR 52 requirements.
The CFPP project has recently marked a series of major achievements, including completing field investigation activities at the INL site in February. Plans now envision that site preparation and excavation will begin in 2025. Pouring of the first safety-related concrete
for the reactor building could come next, likely in 2026.
However, because the CFPP project will deploy NuScale’s 77-MW VOYGR technology, the nuclear vendor will need to seek an NRC review of the company’s power uprate (from 60-MWe to 77-MWe) as part of a Standard Design Approval (SDA) application.
“NuScale is preparing an SDA application for submittal to the NRC in December 2022 which will be based on a six-module configuration using 250MWt (77MWe) modules,” Diane Hughes, vice president of Marketing and Communications for NuScale Power, told POWER on Friday.
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Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
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Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local governments.
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