4 Comments

  1. Good news on Nuscale’s design certification process getting underway. So the 40 month process (+/- a few) gets started now, but the COL for the first installation site won’t start until 2018? The COL approval process for several of the large reactors has been even longer than the design certification. Is there any reason to believe that the COL process for UAMPS or any other SMR site will be faster? I can easily see a situation where the design gets certified but NuScale is stuck in a holding pattern for several years waiting for site and construction approval? Am I wrong to worry about such a thing happening?

  2. @Tim Wyant

    There is always the possibility that licensing reviews can be delayed. UAMPS has a reasonable chance of taking less time than some of the other COLs because it has selected a site where there should be less local opposition and interference.

    Also, some of the COL delays for projects like Vogtle and Summer were caused by delays in approving design certification amendments.

  3. “There is always the possibility that licensing reviews can be delayed.”

    Not with a little outside the box creative management and a ‘Sroke of the Pen’ decision by Sec of Energy. INL is a DOE site, with much of the same Mission (and oversight) on nuclear as NRC. If the NRC certifies the NuScale design as safe, DOE should tell NRC to MYOB on what we do with OUR site. INL has managed to develop, build, and operate 52 reactors in its history… how many had an NRC COL? DOE has already ‘bought in’ to the NuScale concept by granting them ~$252M development funds.

    From INL’s web page:
    “What is INL?

    INL is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s complex of national laboratories. The laboratory performs work in each of the strategic goal areas of DOE: energy, national security, science and environment. INL is the nation’s leading center for nuclear energy research and development.”

    INL is a ‘natural’ choice for over sight to see this project to fruition… let a turf battle be solved by ‘whomever’ solves turf battles between departments in the US Government… with the stroke of a pen.

    If NRC certifies the NuScale design as safe, I really don’t see a need for a COL (even legal) and the best plan is to get this thing built and running totally under DOE, on security proofed DOE property!

    Rick Perry are you listening?

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