• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Archives

Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

How Much Will a B&W mPower™ Modular Reactor Cost?

June 13, 2009 By Rod Adams

At the B&W mPower™ modular reactor press conference, Tina Seeley of Bloomberg News asked the first questions. She was interested in getting some kind of pricing information and also information about the relationship of the federal loan guarantee program to the success of the project.

John Fees, CEO of McDermott International Inc. took the question and provided the kind of answer that can frustrate people who do not understand the difficulty of putting any kind of numbers on a major project where there are simply too many unknowns and dependencies for a valid answer. There were some key parts to the answer, however. Mr. Fees stated that his company believes that the capital cost of the systems will be competitive with larger reactors and they believe that the modular nature of the design makes it less dependent on loan guarantee programs.

As he described it, B&W is supportive of loan guarantee programs, but believes that they are a symptom of the difficulty of financing a $6-8 Billion project that does not have good certainty of delivery. By going to factory manufacturing, the uncertainty should be greatly reduced.

In the video clip above, John Fees makes a slip of the tongue that is easy to understand for a Q&A session. He provided an answer that was off by a factor of 1000 (or by two syllables). What he said was he thought it was possible that an mPower™ could be completed for a capital cost of “under $5,000 per megawatt”, what he must have meant was “under $5,000 per kilowatt”.

If B&W really could produce mPower™ reactors for less than $5,000 per megawatt ($5 per kilowatt), they would fly off of the shelves with a total plant cost of just $625,000 for each module.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience, now serving as a Managing Partner at Nucleation Capital, an emerging climate-focused fund. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial discussion and analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology and policies for several decades. He is the founder of Atomic Insights and host and producer of The Atomic Show Podcast.

Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Join Rod’s pronuclear network

Join Rod's pronuclear network by completing this form. Let us know what your specific interests are.

Recent Comments

  • Rod Adams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • paul wick on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Gordon Mcdowell on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Scott Bean on Solar’s dirty secrets: How solar power hurts people and the planet
  • Greg White on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Follow Atomic Insights

The Atomic Show

Atomic Insights

Recent Posts

Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Nuclear energy growth prospects and secure uranium supplies

Nucleation Capital’s Earth Day in Atherton

Atomic Show #296 – Julia Pyke, Director of Finance Sizewell C

Solar’s dirty secrets: How solar power hurts people and the planet

  • Home
  • About Atomic Insights
  • Atomic Show
  • Contact
  • Links

Search Atomic Insights

Archives

Copyright © 2022 · Atomic Insights

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy