Westinghouse Applies for Small Reactor Funds

Westinghouse Electric will apply for U.S. Department of Energy funds to develop small modular reactor technology.

The Department of Energy offered two grants totaling US$452 million for the development and deployment of the alternative reactors. The funds will pay up to half the cost of developing and deploying up to two small modular reactor designs. The DOE defines a small modular reactor as one that generates 300 megawatts or less. The funding aims to accelerate small reactor deployment so that a new reactor design can be licensed and begin commercial operations by 2022.

Modular reactors are manufactured at a plant and brought to the site fully constructed, which lowers the overall construction cost.

Westinghouse will apply for funds with a consortium of utilities, Kate Jackson, the company’s chief technology officer, said in a statement. The company is working on a 200-megawatt unit.

Three other companies in the U.S. are known to be developing SMR designs that could be deployed in the next 10 to 15 years: Virginia’s Babcock & Wilcox, Oregon startup NuScale Power and New Jersey-based Holtec International.