Nuclear power is one of our most efficient technologies for creating carbon-free energy. However, traditional power plants take almost 10 years to build, cost billions of dollars, and still pose potential radiation risks to neighboring areas. Their safety features must critically rely on large banks of backup power stored in DC batteries, and in light of the well-known reactor meltdowns in Chernobyl and Fukushima, the general public is not particularly welcoming of nuclear power.

NuScale hopes to solve these challenges with their 60MWe nuclear power modules, which can be assembled in factories and then transported to the site for installation. Once installed, these modules are completely shielded from the environment and pose virtually no meltdown risk – they are designed to shut down and self-cool with no operator action, no AC or DC power, and no additional water. This patented safety system relies entirely on the laws of chemistry and physics, which renders it a transformative upgrade to the safety features of current commercial reactors.

NuScale was founded 2008 as a spin off of DOE funded nuclear research at Oregon State University. To date it has received hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding, and tens of millions from private investors. It has been collaborating with manufacturing experts like Rolls-Royce and Fluor Company, and its first commercial (684MWe) plant at Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems is marked for completion in 2026.