PORTLAND, OR -- NuScale Power, LLC announced today they received notification that NuScale’s first-ever Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Design Certification Application (DCA) was accepted for review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). By accepting the DCA for review, the NRC staff is confirming that NuScale’s submission addresses all NRC requirements and contains sufficient technical information to conduct the review. NuScale marked a major milestone on December 31, 2016 when the company asked the NRC to approve the SMR design, the first submitted in the United States.

“This is a great next step for a new American nuclear technology and a step we see as affirming NuScale as a true leader in SMR technology development,” NuScale CEO John Hopkins said. “The uncommon fact that the NRC was able to accept our application during the 60-day docketing review period is validation of all of our hard work over the past eight years.”

When NuScale announced the application submittal in January, the NRC had targeted completing the certification process for the NuScale SMR power plant design in 40 months from acceptance. NuScale’s application consisted of nearly 12,000 pages of technical information, representing the work of more than 800 NuScale staff and some 40,000 NRC staff-hours in pre-application discussions and interactions.

“We appreciate the NRC’s dedication to clarifying requirements for the submittal. That kind of interaction was essential to NuScale successfully being docketed for review,” said NuScale COO and CNO Dale Atkinson. “There is still much to do and we firmly believe that not only will NuScale be the first SMR certified by the U.S. NRC, but that the size and simplicity of the NuScale design will change the way we think and talk about nuclear going forward.”

The first commercial NuScale power plant is planned for construction on the site of the Idaho National Laboratory for the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) and operated by experienced operator Energy Northwest.

Conservative estimates predict approximately 55-75 GW of electricity will come from operating SMRs around the world by 2035, the equivalent of more than 1,000 NuScale Power Modules.

“There is a real need to upgrade American infrastructure to provide for clean and reliable electricity to spur growth in the U.S. There is a real need to boost American manufacturing, and create American jobs,” said Hopkins. “NuScale’s new nuclear energy technology can do all of that and begin to meet the urgent needs for power, for clean water and to support industrial growth around the world – and do it on a scale and at a cost that makes sense.”

About NuScale Power, LLC

NuScale Power, LLC is developing a new kind of nuclear plant; a safer, smaller, scalable version of pressurized water reactor technology - a technology initially developed and tested at Oregon State University. Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), a global engineering, procurement, and construction company with a 60-year history in commercial nuclear power, is the majority investor in NuScale. NuScale's design offers the benefits of carbon-free nuclear power and reduces the financial commitments associated with giga-watt size nuclear facilities. NuScale technology is ideally suited across diverse platforms including base load electricity, load-following support for renewables, very high-reliability micro-grids, and process heat or steam for district heating, desalination and industrial uses.

At the heart of our technology is the fully factory fabricated NuScale Power Module™, an integral reactor vessel surrounded by a high pressure steel containment, which when coupled to its factory fabricated power generation equipment can produce 50 megawatts of electricity. A NuScale power plant can house up to 12 of these modules for a total facility output of 600 megawatts (gross). The scalability afforded by the modular design allows customers to incrementally increase facility output to match demand. The NuScale Power Module™ is premised on well-established nuclear technology principles with a focus on integration of components, simplification or elimination of systems, and use of passive safety features resulting in highly reliable operation underpinned by an extremely strong safety case and unparalleled asset protection, making it suitable to be sited at locations closer to where electricity or process heat are needed.

NuScale is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has offices in Corvallis, OR; Rockville, MD; Charlotte, NC; Richland, WA; and London, UK.