Monday, July 1, 2013
Energy Northwest is teaming with NuScale Power and Utah
Associated Municipal Power Systems to study the demonstration of a commercial,
small modular reactor project, potentially in southeastern Idaho, by 2024. If
NuScale receives federal development funding, Energy Northwest will have first
right of offer to operate such a project, and by doing so will become one of
the industry experts for small modular reactor operation.
NuScale’s recent funding application to the Energy
Department responds to a federal initiative designed to speed the nation’s
transition to sustainable, clean sources of energy by bringing small modular
reactors to market in the United States.
“SMR technology will provide reliable, affordable and
carbon-free energy within the next 10-15 years,” said Dale Atkinson, vice
president of Employee Development and Corporate Services. “Such a project would
provide us with the opportunity to assess the potential future contributions of
this technology to the Washington State energy mix, including helping to
integrate renewable resources.”
“Our primary focus remains fixed on Columbia Generating
Station and cost-effective energy generation for Northwest ratepayers,” said
Energy Northwest CEO Mark Reddemann. “But we also have the responsibility to
meet both the current and future needs of our member public power utilities,
and many of them have expressed a keen interest in the benefits of this
technology.”
Reddemann said the project could act as a catalyst for
development of additional SMR projects with NuScale and others.
“Building one somewhere in the Northwest today may lead to
building elsewhere tomorrow,” said Reddemann, “including right here in the
Tri-Cities.”
NuScale and partners are exploring a six- to 12-module
facility to be located at a site like the Idaho National Laboratory. Designed
to generate between 270 and 540 megawatts of electricity, the project would
also serve to prove the feasibility of future SMR development.
“If NuScale secures DOE funding, this effort will be an
important step toward bringing new nuclear to Washington State when we need
it,” said Reddemann. “When that day comes, we’ll have the right people with the
right expertise in the right place to make it happen.”
Energy Northwest originally sought, with strong support from
the Tri-City Development Council and other local leaders, placement of a
NuScale SMR at the Industrial Development Complex near Columbia Generating
Station.
NuScale, however, has initially identified the Idaho
National Laboratory’s 890-square-mile site, 45 miles west of Idaho Falls, as
their preferred start-up location. In addition to the laboratory’s experience
in reactor research, testing and demonstration during the past 60 years, energy
forecasters anticipate an earlier demand for new baseload power in Idaho than
in Washington.
“We believe a site like INL offers our best, most feasible
first step for securing DOE funding and eventually bringing this technology to
other Western states,” said NuScale CEO John L. Hopkins.
Last week, Reddemann asked DOE to strongly consider
NuScale’s application for matching development funds under the federal Funding
Opportunity Announcement program. He also affirmed Energy Northwest’s support
for bringing SMR technology to the Northwest.
“In an era in the Northwest with slow growing electricity
demand, small modular reactor technology offers utilities and consumers the
opportunity to invest incrementally, on an as-needed basis, in clean,
cost-effective power,” Reddemann wrote in a letter to Dr. Peter Lyons, DOE’s
Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy.
"This project proposal represents the future of clean
energy and high-tech jobs throughout the West and the Nation,” said Mike
McGough, NuScale's Chief Commercial Officer. “We have been testing our design
on a one-third scale prototype since 2003 and are well on our way to submitting
a request for NRC design certification.
Energy Northwest’s road from SMR interest to active
involvement in an SMR proposal began in 2009.
Acting on member interest, the agency formed a regional
group comprised of 10 public and investor-owned utilities to study various
design options. After a rigorous two-year analysis, the group concluded that
NuScale’s light-water reactor offered the most feasible design for Northwest
baseload generation needs.
In March 2012, the Energy Department announced that it would
fund half the cost – up to $450 million – to design and license one or two SMR
projects for the U.S. commercial market. The following month, in his first
letter to Lyons, Reddemann encouraged DOE to award funding to NuScale and
advocated placement of an SMR project “at an existing Energy Northwest site.”
The Energy Department, however, awarded first-round funding
of approximately $150 million to a Babcock & Wilcox subsidiary to build the
first commercial small light-water reactor system in Tennessee.
This past March the Energy Department announced an
anticipated second round of funding competition for one or two awards ranging
from $150 million to $226 million each.
“I think we came into this second round with a better
understanding of the importance DOE is placing on the technological
demonstration advantages associated with strong partnerships and innovative
approaches to reactor safety” said Hopkins.
“NuScale is well positioned to win funding,” said Hopkins.
“In addition to a well-defined project proposal, DOE’s funding criteria
explicitly and implicitly encourages associated utility partners. Energy
Northwest and UAMPS provide that essential team element.”
