Goodbye to oil and “drill, baby, drill”? A new $9-billion technology just cleared a major US hurdle

As the Trump administration makes clear that it intends to increase petroleum production in the US. In other words, “drill baby drill!,” is the motto of this White House.

However, news from one of the country’s nuclear power technology companies shows that the federal government is still willing to invest in different energy sources, aside from fossil fuels.

In late May, the NuScale Power Corporation announced that it had received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a more powerful ‘Power Module’ that would be able to generate 250 MWt (77 MWe). The prior version was capable of generating 50 MWe and is the only small modular reactor (SMR) that has received approval from the NRC. The company hopes to begin deploying the technology, in partnership with Entra1, by 2030.

Entra1 is an independent global energy production company that develops and finances electricity production projects within the hydrogen, process heat, and desalinated water sectors.

The SMR developed by NuScale has many benefits, including its capacity to be shut down and self-cool, without the need for additional water or DC power. However, this doesn’t solve many of the challenges associated with decommissioning, with Stephen Singer of Utility Dive pointing to studies from the US Department of Energy that found that the amount of nuclear waste created by turning off an SMR was “roughly comparable” to that of traditionally larger reactors.

“This marks a historic moment not only for NuScale, but the entire industry, as NuScale and ENTRA1 move closer to meeting the demands of clean energy users,” explained NuScale’s President and CEO, John Hopkins. The rubber stamp from the NRC was described as “a crucial step toward meeting our goal of providing clean, reliable, and, most importantly, safe energy to off-takers and consumers.”

SMRs are not immune to decommissioning challenges

The SMR developed by NuScale has many benefits, including its capacity to be shut down and self-cool, without the need for additional water or DC power. However, this doesn’t solve many of the challenges associated with decommissioning, with Stephen Singer of Utility Dive pointing to studies from the US Department of Energy that found that the amount of nuclear waste created by turning off an SMR was “roughly comparable” to that of traditionally larger reactors.

Another study, conducted by Lindsay Krall and published in 2022, found that SMRs led to an “increase [in] the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal, by factors of 2 to 30 for the reactors” that were included in the analysis.

“These findings stand in sharp contrast to the cost and waste reduction benefits that advocates have claimed for advanced nuclear technologies,” argued Krall.

How much nuclear energy does the US generate?

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US generates around 19 percent of its electricity from nuclear sources. Though the approval is an exciting step towards increasing the availability of nuclear power, the agency does not forecast a growth in the share of electricity that will be generated by the renewable energy source this year or next.

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