Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has signed a letter of intent with Generation mPower (GmP) outlining plans for the design, licensing and construction of up to six mPower small modular reactors (SMRs) at the Clinch River site in Roane County, Tennessee.
TVA has also advised the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it plans to submit a related construction permit application (CPA) in the fourth quarter of FY2012. TVA is developing the CPA with support from Generation mPower (B&W and Bechtel), according to a 23 March letter to the NRC. It has also contracted Worley Parsons to provide project management assistance, Burns and Roe to provide owner’s engineer services, as well as other contractors to provide site characterization, facility and licensing support services, the letter said.
The B&W mPower Integrated System Test facility in Virginia is expected to begin a three-year project later this summer to collect data to verify the reactor design and safety performance in support of licensing activities, B&W, majority owners of GmP said in a 16 June statement.
The project could later include engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities, ‘assuming certain preconditions are met.’
“GmP remains on track to deploy the first B&W mPower reactor by 2020 at TVA’s Clinch River site,” B&W said, adding that it expects to submit a Design Certification Application (DCA) to the NRC in 2013.
In the 23 March letter to the NRC, TVA said its CPA is expected to be the lead licensing application for the mPower design.
The mPower reactor is a 125 MW passively safe advanced light water reactor, with a below ground containment structure. On its launch in the summer of 2009, B&W described the mPower as ‘game-changing,’ saying that it would be cheaper and more flexible than the larger designs currently on offer.
FilesReactor-by-reactor Fukushima Daiichi restoration progress summary as of 16 June, from JAIF Fukushima Daiichi parameters as of 16 June by JANTI
