The Dept. of Energy has announced the winner of the initial part of a two-phase award for the commercial deployment of small modular reactors, or SMRs, in the U.S.
The first project award, announced on Nov. 20, goes to a joint-venture team of Charlotte, N.C.-based Babcock & Wilcox and San Francisco-based Bechtel, working in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority. Bechtel is the architect-engineer, and B&W is the technology provider. TVA hopes to acquire a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license for up to four B&W mPower SMRs at Clinch River in Oak Ridge, Tenn.