Study validates an exciting path for powering commercial chemical plants
Findings show that pairing NuScale’s advanced nuclear technology with a heat augmentation system is both profitable and reliable
CORVALLIS, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR), the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), today released the results of the techno-economic assessment (TEA) examining the performance and profitability of coupling a NuScale Power Module™ (NPM) with a U.S. chemical facility to provide nuclear-generated steam and electric power. The findings showcased that nuclear power – specifically NuScale NPMs – can help industries that use process steam and electricity in a reliable and profitable manner.
“As the first and only SMR to have our designs certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), NuScale continues to lead in the development of new technologies to provide process heat and electricity,” said Dr. José Reyes, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at NuScale Power. “As we saw in the results of this assessment, delivering high-temperature steam with NuScale’s scalable architecture provides industrial users with unparalleled flexibility that can be integrated into their processes and offers a promising new path for them to explore. We are proud of the collaboration with our partners at ORNL and grateful for the support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative for this study and the exciting new opportunities that small modular reactors introduce.”
Over the past two years, engineers from NuScale and ORNL partnered to form a composite engineering team. The group performed a TEA of nuclear and natural gas as energy sources for a number of steam and power generation configurations, including NPMs, gas boilers, and combined use, to meet the chemical plant’s steam and power demand with the most reliable and cost-competitive integrated energy system. The study utilized actual chemical plant conditions and historical data.
This assessment, a follow-on to an earlier study1 conducted using NuScale’s 50 MWe design, was based on NuScale’s NRC-approved uprated 77 MWe/250 MWt NPM design with a high-temperature, high-pressure, steam heat augmentation system. This new study used NuScale’s design with revised capital costs, a 10-day refueling outage time, reduced plant staffing, higher capacity factors, and a site boundary Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) methodology. The study examined factors such as steam reliability, operational costs, and system stability.
Upon completion of the comprehensive two-year study, the following key findings were reported:
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The hybrid NPM/gas integrated energy system has a scalable architecture that offers maximum flexibility for optimizing plant energy use and profitability.
- The 12-NPM plant is the most profitable, allowing the sale of excess power to the grid.
- A minimum configuration of 4-NPMs combined with boilers can meet all of the chemical plant requirements.
- An 8-NPM configuration allows for N-2 redundancy for very high reliability.
- A wide range of hybrid combinations (NPMs with gas-fired boilers) are both viable and profitable.
- The study demonstrated that the NuScale integrated energy system could meet the chemical plant requirements – specifically 1.3 million kg/h of process steam, at 400°C (752°F), and 4.1 MPa (595 psia) – while also providing 73 MW of electric power.
- Excess power generated could be exported to the grid for increased profitability for any combination.
- The NPM with steam heat augmentation used highly-reliable, commercially available equipment to minimize costs and the use of high-temperature materials.
The TEA project was sponsored by the U.S. DOE’s GAIN program, and the ORNL report (ORNL/TM-2025/3938) with the assessment results for the integration of a NuScale SMR steam heat augmentation system with a chemical plant is now publicly available at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
About NuScale Power
Founded in 2007, NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) is the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology, with a mission to help power the global energy transition by delivering safe, scalable, and reliable carbon-free energy. The Company’s groundbreaking SMR technology is powered by the NuScale Power Module™, a small, safe, pressurized water reactor that can each generate 77 megawatts of electricity (MWe) or 250 megawatts thermal (gross), and can be scaled to meet customer needs through an array of flexible configurations up to 924 MWe (12 modules) of output.
As the first and only SMR to have its designs certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NuScale is well-positioned to serve diverse customers across the world by supplying nuclear energy for electrical generation, data centers, district heating, desalination, commercial-scale hydrogen production, and other process heat applications.
To learn more, visit NuScale Power’s website or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements (including without limitation statements containing terms such as “will,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “plans” or other similar expressions). These forward-looking statements include statements relating to our technology’s ability to support profitable, reliable power for chemical plants and to provide a path for powering commercial chemical plants.
Actual results may differ materially as a result of a number of factors, including, among other things, challenges and uncertainties inherent in studies and the uncertainty of anticipated results; the Company’s liquidity and ability to raise capital; the Company’s failure to receive new contract awards; cost overruns, project delays or other problems arising from project execution activities, including the failure to meet cost and schedule estimates; our expectations regarding obtaining regulatory approvals, and the timing thereof, to deploy our SMRs in the United States and abroad; forecasts regarding end-customer adoption rates and demand for our products in markets that are new and rapidly evolving; limitations on the effectiveness of our controls and procedures and our remediation plans related thereto; intense competition in the industries in which we operate; failure of our partners to perform their obligations; cyber-security breaches; foreign economic and political uncertainties; client cancellations of, or scope adjustments to, existing contracts; failure to maintain safe worksites and international security risks; risks or uncertainties associated with events outside of our control, including weather conditions, pandemics (including COVID-19), public health crises, political crises or other catastrophic events; macroeconomic conditions; the use of estimates and assumptions in preparing our financial statements; client delays or defaults in making payments; the failure of our suppliers, subcontractors and other third parties to adequately perform services under our contracts; uncertainties, restrictions and regulations impacting our government contracts; the inability to hire and retain qualified personnel; the potential impact of certain tax matters; possible information technology interruptions; the Company’s ability to secure appropriate insurance; liabilities associated with the performance of nuclear services; foreign currency risks; the loss of one or a few clients that account for a significant portion of the Company’s revenues; damage to our reputation; failure to adequately protect intellectual property rights; asset impairments; climate change and related environmental issues; increasing scrutiny with respect to sustainability practices; the availability of credit and restrictions imposed by credit facilities for our clients, suppliers, subcontractors or other partners; failure to obtain favorable results in existing or future litigation and regulatory proceedings, dispute resolution proceedings or claims, including claims for additional costs; failure by us or our employees, agents or partners to comply with laws; new or changing legal requirements, including those relating to environmental, health and safety matters; failure to successfully implement our strategic and operational initiatives and restrictions on possible transactions imposed by our charter documents and Delaware law. Caution must be exercised in relying on these and other forward-looking statements. Due to known and unknown risks, the Company’s results may differ materially from its expectations and projections.
Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in the Company’s public periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the general economic conditions and other risks, uncertainties and factors set forth in the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Summary of Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and in subsequent filings with the SEC. The referenced SEC filings are available either publicly or upon request from NuScale’s Investor Relations Department at [email protected]. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation other than as required by law to update the forward-looking statements.
1 ORNL/TM–2020/1522; CRADA/NFE–19-07651
Contacts
Media contact
Chuck Goodnight, Vice President, Business Development, NuScale Power
[email protected]
Investor contact
Rodney McMahan, Senior Director, Investor Relations
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