Portal:Energy/Selected article/37
NuScale Power Corporation is a publicly traded American company that designs and markets small modular reactors (SMRs). It is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon. The company's VOYGR power plant, which uses 50 MWe modules and scales to 12 modules (600 MWe), was the first SMR to be certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (2022). The newer 77 MWe module designs, known as the VOYGR-4 (308 MWe) and VOYGR-6 (462 MWe), were submitted for NRC review on January 1, 2023, and approved May 29, 2025. NuScale is now seeking NRC approval for their 12-module, VOYGR-12. The SMR is also scalable, offering up to 924 MWe. As of 2025, NuScale Power Corporation is the only manufacturer in America to offer an NRC-approved SMR.
NuScale Power Modules are surrounded by a 9 feet (2.7 m) diameter by 65 feet (20 m) tall reactor vessel that relies on conventional cooling methods. The modules run on low enriched uranium fuel assemblies based on existing light water reactor designs. For a 12-module configuration, the modules are stored individually in submerged storage wells on the floor of a shared 75-foot deep, 10-million-gallon reservoir, and covered by a concrete barrier. A natural convection coolant loop is relied upon to feed all of the modules used in a plant and is capable of delivering additional fresh water to each reactor vessel without powered pumps in the event of an emergency. (Full article...)