U.S. Energy Department Approves $1.4 Billion Cost-Share Award for Advanced Nuclear Project

The U.S. Energy Department has approved a cost share award of up to $1.355 billion, allocated over 10 years, as funds are appropriated by Congress, to demonstrate and deploy a 12-module NuScale reactor located at Idaho National Laboratory.

Carbon Free Power Project LLC, an entity owned by Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, or UAMPS, will receive the award for the 720 MWe power plant expected to begin in December 2025, with the first power module operating at the lab by 2029, according to the department’s Oct. 16 press release. The project consists of a dozen 60 MWe small modular reactors that provide flexibility to ramp up and down as required and complement variable renewable energy generation. The modules will be supplied by NuScale Power based in Oregon. The project’s output will replace generation from coal plants that are reaching the end of their life cycles.

The department expects the funding to help ensure that the levelized cost of energy target price of $55 per megawatt-hour can be attained at a manageable risk level. At this price, the project will be competitive with non-intermittent dispatchable sources, such as combined cycle gas plants, and provide long-term affordable energy to UAMPS members without emission regulation and compliance costs. UAMPS is an interlocal agency of Utah that provides energy services to 47 members including public power utilities in the states of Utah, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming.