PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NuScale Power LLC announced today that it has submitted a Letter of Intent to respond to the recent Department of Energy (DOE) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to accelerate the deployment of the company’s small modular reactor technology.

“We are eager to be a part of DOE’s important effort to provide assistance for design certification and ultimate deployment of SMR technology," stated John Hopkins, NuScale’s Chairman and CEO. “This program would provide the groundwork for full domestic and international commercialization of the NuScale SMR technology, and in doing so, would help rejuvenate a U.S. nuclear supply chain.”

As the only U.S.-based company established solely for the deployment and commercialization of its SMR technology, NuScale has developed unique and proprietary break-through technology for an innovative, simple, safe, economic, and scalable small modular reactor. Using proven light water reactor (LWR) technology, the NuScale Power Module is cooled by natural circulation, is entirely self-contained and installed underwater and underground to maximize safety.

The NuScale design also represents 100 percent factory-fabricated modules, including containment, and is fully transportable by truck or rail to deployment sites. It takes advantage of the “economies of small,” enhancing potential market acceptance through improved safety, efficient operation, and attractive economics. At 45 MWe per operating module, the NuScale SMR design is attractive to markets that no other LWR SMR design can reach. A NuScale power plant can include as many as 12 NuScale Power Modules to produce as much as 540 MWe.

NuScale’s design development began in 2000 under a DOE-funded research program and reflects 13 years of advancement and refinement—validated through comprehensive testing in a one-third scale prototype test facility since 2003.

NuScale was the first US-based SMR vendor to begin discussions with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission beginning in 2008 and has been engaged in pre-application discussions since that time. With a DOE submittal deadline of July 1, NuScale’s application in response to the FOA will fully detail its approach to achieve a U.S. NRC Certification in a timeframe that would support commercial operation by 2025.

Backed by a proven delivery model, NuScale Power has the support and technical assistance of Fluor Corporation, the majority equity partner and exclusive EPC contractor to NuScale, as well as a variety of specialty contractors, providing best-in-class project management systems, processes, and personnel.

About NuScale Power LLC

NuScale Power LLC, is developing an inherently safe, modular, scalable commercial nuclear power technology. 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 but takes away the issues presented by the cost of installing large capacity. A nuclear power plant using NuScale's technology is comprised of individual nuclear power modules; each produces 45 megawatts of electricity with its own combined containment vessel and reactor system, and its own designated turbine-generator set. A power plant can include as many as 12 NuScale integral PWR modules to produce as much as 540 megawatts. The reactors are cooled by the natural convection of water and can be shut down safely without pumps or other mechanical systems. NuScale power plants are scalable - additional modules are added as customer demand for electricity increases. NuScale's technology also is ideally suited to supply energy for district heating, desalination and other applications.