NuScale’s 77-MW module supplanted an earlier 50-MW design the NRC approved in 2023. Some prospective customers had been in a holding pattern as the commission considered NuScale’s application for the uprated module, Hopkins said, adding, “It was accomplished. We’re there.”

NuScale Chief Financial Officer Ramsey Hamady said the May approval puts NuScale in a class by itself among advanced nuclear technology companies.“We’re the only company with two NRC approvals for small modular reactors. There’s no other company with even one … and there [were] a lot of people out there doubting [us], saying, ‘Hey, you’re not gonna get through.’”

For NuScale, the NRC decision amplified regulatory tailwinds supporting the wider nuclear industry, Hamady said. 

Read more in Utility Dive.

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