The Energy Department announced an award to support a new project to design, license, and help commercialize small modular reactors (SMR) in the United States. The project supported by the award will be led by Babcock & Wilcox in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bechtel.
“SMR technology offers a flexible solution that is scalable, offers many safety benefits, and requires significantly lower initial investment for an owner than gigawatt nuclear reactors,” said Greg Ashley, president of Bechtel’s nuclear power business line. “The manufacture and deployment of this technology in the future will play an important role in the nation’s energy portfolio.”