We are pleased to announce that Holtec has partnered with NuHub, a collaborative group of public, private, academic, and community development groups working to maximize the economic and job creation impact of the nuclear renaissance on the Midstate of South Carolina, to compete for one of two federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for small modular reactor (SMR) development. The recently announced federal award, totaling up to $452 million, will support engineering, design certification, and licensing for up to two prototype SMR designs, paving the way for the deployment of the first SMR units by 2022.
Our indigenously developed SMR, the Holtec Inherently-Safe Modular Underground Reactor (HI-SMURTM), is a 160 MW(e) small modular reactor designed to provide economically advantageous, emission-free electricity in a safe, secure, and reliable manner. Designated the SMR-160, the small modular reactor project is managed by SMR LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary, which is fully responsible for establishing the design, licensing, technology, and infrastructure development to complete the project. Earlier this year, we announced the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to situate our first SMR-160 at the Savannah River Site. Winning the federal award would expedite the development, licensing, construction, commissioning and operation of the SMR-160 at the Savannah River Site (SRS).
Holtec hails DOE’s support for SMR development and NuHub’s willingness to support the operation of prototype SMR designs in South Carolina. “We are pleased to partner with NuHub to help incubate the SMR technology in South Carolina,” said Pierre Oneid, President of SMR LLC. “The coalition of industry, academic and community leadership represented by NuHub and the strongly supportive nuclear culture in the Palmetto state presents an ideal opportunity for us to build our first SMR-160 at the Savannah River Site. With help from NuHub and the state we hope to establish a local manufacturing facility for building reactor components in South Carolina that replicates our existing fabrication capabilities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida.”
“One of NuHub’s core goals is to position the Midstate as a hub for SMR activity including jobs, research, training and manufacturing,” said Dr. Sonny White, co-chair of NuHub and President of Midlands Technical College. “We look forward to partnering with Holtec International and leveraging South Carolina’s assets and expertise in nuclear energy.”
Commenting on the NuHub partnership and the earlier Savannah River accord, Holtec’s President & CEO stated: “The SMR-160 is a “game changer” for the nuclear power industry: relying solely on gravity as its motive force, it is intended to rehabilitate the public perception of the commercial nuclear industry in the aftermath of Fukushima as an unconditionally safe source of environmentally benign energy.”
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