Bulletins

NuScale’s small modular reactor design to get the regulatory thumbs-up

This marks the first time the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has certified the design of an advanced reactor, though the green light could potentially be a sign of things to come.

Artist's rendering of a NuScale nuclear power plant. A river is in the foreground while mountains are on the horizon. The sky is pink at sunset.

NuScale's small modular reactor is the first to get approval in the U.S.

Illustration: Oregon State/NuScale

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is about to do something it hasn’t done in years: certify the design for a brand new reactor.


The agency has directed staff to sign off on NuScale's small modular reactor design, saying it "meets the agency’s applicable safety requirements." The reactor could be the first of a coming wave of advanced reactors angling for the regulatory green light.

The smallness and the modularity of NuScale’s design make it an entirely different animal from the massive, site-specific nuclear plants that utilities have relied upon for decades to generate electricity. NuScale's light water reactor modules stand roughly 65 feet tall, and the company plans to make them in a factory for distribution around the world. The NRC design approval — which NuScale has been waiting for since 2016 — is a major step in turning that vision into reality.

“This is going to be a signal to potential investors,” Ryan Norman, a climate policy adviser at the think tank Third Way, told Protocol. “It shows that there's a pathway to success for SMRs and advanced reactors. That’s something that’s really important … for getting money for new projects and ultimately being able to deploy more reactors, which is crucial for a lot of our other goals, climate chiefly among them.”

The fact that the NRC has never approved an advanced reactor design until now has left a new generation of nuclear companies mired in uncertainty. Norman said the NuScale approval likely assuages some of those companies' fears — and it could be a harbinger of things to come. Other companies that have SMR designs underway in the U.S. include Holtec and GE Hitachi, though none have yet submitted a design to the NRC.

“This sends a powerful signal to domestic and international markets that new reactor designs are coming, and that they're as safe or even safer than existing reactors,” said Norman.

NuScale plans to have its first SMR up and running by 2029 at Idaho National Laboratory. By 2030, it expects to have a full power plant made up of multiple reactors on-site that can generate 462 megawatts of electricity. A significant chunk of that power has already been contracted out to distribution companies.

That 462 megawatts of generation capacity is far below what Plant Vogtle, the only traditional nuclear reactor under construction in the U.S., will generate once completed. But that project has been plagued by cost overruns and delays, reflecting the challenges of building traditional plants in the U.S. If NuScale can get its plant up and running in a timely manner and without added costs, it could offer a new pathway forward for carbon-free nuclear power in the U.S.

Judi Greenwald, the executive director of Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a group in favor of advanced nuclear reactors, told Protocol that the NIA is “pleased” by the news and that NuScale’s success could inform the successes of future developers as well.

“Lessons learned during the NuScale SMR approval process will help both utilities looking to operate a future NuScale SMR under Combined Operating License Application as well as other advanced reactor developers that will pursue regulatory approval for their designs," she said.

Latest Bulletins

Mobile game revenue will decline for the first time in history this year, market research firm Newzoo now says in a revised outlook for the 2022 global games market. While the whole game industry is expected to contract by 4.3% — another first since Newzoo began tracking the market in 2007 — the company is predicting a 6.4% decline in mobile game spending on top of a 4.2% decline in console game spending.

Keep ReadingShow less

Amazon is planning to lay off thousands of employees, Protocol has learned, ahead of what the company has cautioned will be a slow holiday shopping season.

Keep ReadingShow less

Google agreed to pay $391.5 million and make changes to its user privacy controls as part of a settlement with a coalition of 40 state attorneys general. The coalition accused Google of misleading customers about location-tracking practices that informed ad targeting.

Keep ReadingShow less

FTX has filed for bankruptcy and the crypto company also announced that founder Sam Bankman-Fried has resigned as CEO.

Keep ReadingShow less

Salesforce recently updated its internal policies to make it easier for managers to terminate employees for performance issues without HR involvement, Protocol has learned, a move that comes as the software giant looks to shed as many as 2,500 jobs.

Keep ReadingShow less

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said fraud and scam reports comprise the top complaint it receives about virtual currencies — and that customers are finding little help from companies when it happens.

Keep ReadingShow less

Elon Musk sent his first email to Twitter staff late Wednesday, warning of a difficult economic road ahead and telling employees they need to be in office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. "Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message," he began, ominously.

Keep ReadingShow less

Binance isn’t buying FTX after all. The crypto giant said Wednesday it has decided that it “will not pursue the potential acquisition” based on a “corporate due diligence” review.

Keep ReadingShow less

On Wednesday, John Kerry unveiled a plan for a new carbon credit program aimed at mobilizing private capital to help middle-income countries transition away from coal and move toward renewable energy.

Keep ReadingShow less

Meta announced it was laying off more than 11,000 employees Wednesday morning, slashing jobs in its recruiting department and refocusing its remaining team on AI discovery, ads, and its investment in the metaverse.

"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here," Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a message to employees that was also posted online. "I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted."

Keep ReadingShow less

Al Gore has one mission this week at COP27, and that’s to give climate negotiators what he hopes will be a critical tool to address the crisis at hand: an independent, global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, down to the individual facility.

The Climate TRACE coalition just released the world’s most detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which Gore, a founding member, is unveiling on Wednesday at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt.

Keep ReadingShow less

Way back in March, your friendly Protocol Climate team offered you some tips for writing a climate plan that doesn’t suck. Surely you took that advice. But if for some reason you didn’t, the United Nations has your back.

Keep ReadingShow less

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said Tuesday the crypto powerhouse signed a deal to acquire rival FTX.

Keep ReadingShow less

Salesforce is preparing for a major round of layoffs that could affect as many as 2,500 workers across the software vendor, Protocol has learned, in a bid to cut costs amid a new activist investor challenge and harsh economic conditions.

Keep ReadingShow less

BlockFi has introduced a new digital assets interest product for accredited investors, after previously agreeing to shut down a yield-paying crypto product that the SEC said was illegal.

Keep ReadingShow less

The Justice Department said Monday it seized $3.4 billion worth of bitcoin stolen in the 2012 hack of the Silk Road dark web marketplace.

Keep ReadingShow less

U.S. election infrastructure is exceedingly secure, and voter fraud here is so rare it’s comparable to your annual chances of getting struck by lightning. Despite this, former President Donald Trump and a long list of allies in the Republican Party have spent the last two years questioning the overall integrity of the U.S. election system. Many of those allies are now candidates themselves, and their coordinated attack on the country’s status as a democracy is not a relic of 2020. Some have already started repeating these “Big Lie” charges ahead of next week’s midterms. And the social platforms that help them spread their message have prepared few measures to stop it.

Keep ReadingShow less

The White House just laid out its climate tech priorities to reach net zero by 2050.

Keep ReadingShow less

Coinbase said Thursday that it lost more users in the third quarter. But the decline wasn’t the disastrous drop that Wall Street was expecting, and that sparked a rally in the crypto company’s shares after-hours.

Keep ReadingShow less

The Biden administration announced $9 billion in funding Wednesday to improve home efficiency, which could help support the installation of up to 500,000 heat pumps. With winter approaching and utilities warning of gas shortages, there are some major challenges facing the technology that money can be used to tackle.

Keep ReadingShow less

Block beat earnings expectations, with strong growth largely fueled by its Cash App business. Traders sent shares up more than 12% after-hours Thursday.

Keep ReadingShow less

Stripe is laying off 14% of its staff, its co-founders said Thursday, as the fintech startup must start "building differently for leaner times."

Keep ReadingShow less

Roku saw its revenue growth slow in Q3, and warned investors Wednesday that things are about to get worse: “A lot of Q4 ad campaigns are being canceled,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood during the company’s Q4 earnings call. “We’re seeing lots of big categories pull back. Telecom, insurance … even toy marketers are planning on reducing their spending.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Green jobs and corporate climate pledges abound, but skilled sustainability professionals are scarce.

Keep ReadingShow less

Robinhood reported a drop in third-quarter revenue but also a narrower loss on Wednesday, in a sign that it might be stabilizing its business as it attempts to recover from a staggering drop in the stock and crypto trading activity that fueled its growth.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bulletins