More federal funding for small modular reactor project

The Babcock & Wilcox Co. said Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated an additional $20.5 million in funding to its cooperative agreement with a company subsidiary for a small modular reactor project.

The agreement is with Babcock & Wilcox mPower Inc. With the new allocation, the full commitment of the department to the initial budget period has now been made available to B&W mPower.

The first installment of $79 million was allocated by the DOE upon the signing of the formal agreement with B&W mPower in April. The DOE also has provided about $2 million to national laboratories to perform analyses and evaluation work related to the project, bringing the total DOE investment to $101 million during the initial project period.

“This additional funding allocation from the DOE further demonstrates the U.S. government’s commitment to supporting private industry in the development and deployment of small modular reactor technology,” Christofer M. Mowry, president of B&W mPower Inc., said in a statement. “We remain on an aggressive schedule toward the anticipated commercial operation of the Clinch River mPower Plant near Oak Ridge, Tenn., by 2022 and appreciate the DOE’s support as we move closer to delivering this vital technology to the global energy market.”

The B&W mPower reactor is an advanced integral pressurized water reactor designed to generate 180 megawatts of electricity. N&W’s nuclear group in Lynchburg is designing the reactor.