NuScale Power today announced its first submittal to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for pre-licensing vendor design review (VDR) of NuScale’s innovative small modular reactor (SMR) design. This submission reflects the substantive work that NuScale continues to accomplish in the regulatory field as the company is simultaneously bringing the U.S.’s first NuScale power plant into production and operation by 2026.
“Interest in building NuScale plants in Canada continues to grow. This pre-licensing process allows our design to be reviewed by another highly respected regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and we look forward to their thorough evaluation of our innovative safety features,” said NuScale Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hopkins. “We are thrilled to continue our path forward to introduce our scalable, economic, carbon-free, and safe SMR technology to Canadian customers.”
Building on the extensive body of information NuScale developed as part of the NRC’s DCA process, the VDR submission to the CNSC will allow a NuScale customer to maximize increased efficiencies for technical reviews when later seeking to submit a construction license application. NuScale’s technology is the world’s first and only SMR to undergo design certification review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). On December 12, 2019 the company announced the NRC completion of Phase 4 of its SMR design certification application (DCA). Completion of Phase 4 is significant as it indicates near-completion of the technical review, and the entire review of NuScale’s design is in Phases 5 and 6. With the VDR submission to the CNSC, NuScale is eager to ensure that its revolutionary SMR technology meets both Canadian regulatory requirements and the needs of its customers.
NuScale’s VDR will be completed in four submittals. The first submittal occurred on December 10, 2019. NuScale’s submission is a combined Phase 1 and 2 level VDR, as the company’s SMR design is mature and can directly enter VDR Phase 2. The remaining three submittals will be conducted at approximately six month intervals.
Submittal 1 addresses four of the 19 topic areas of the VDR. These four topics were chosen because they provide the foundation for the remaining topics in a VDR:
Topic 1 – General Plant Description
Topic 2 – SSC Classification
Topic 16 – Vendor Research and Development Program
Topic 17 – Design Process and Quality Assurance
“We chose these four topic areas as they provide a solid foundation for the review by covering the overall unprecedented safety of the design, our extensive research and development programs, and that we have the quality assurance and other management systems in place to satisfy the CNSC,” said NuScale Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Tom Bergman. “Completion of the vendor design review provides assurance to both the regulator and potential customers that the NuScale design will be acceptable to build and operate in Canada.”
NuScale has signed an agreement with Bruce Power to develop a business case to support the company’s efforts to bring its innovative and unique SMR technology to Canada. Bruce Power is supporting evaluation, planning, and licensing activities, all of which will serve an important role in demonstrating the business case for why NuScale’s technology is the right choice for Ontario and Canada. As well, Ontario Power Generation participates on the NuScale Advisory Board and provides advice on potential deployment of NuScale technology in Canada, SMR licensing in Canada, and the CNSC vendor design review process. NuScale’s work with both companies is a strong endorsement of the growing enthusiasm in Canada for the company’s pioneering SMR technology.
