Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) and NuScale Power Agree to Terminate the Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP) – GWC Mag

I must admit that this came as a shock and a surprise. I thought that the pockets were plenty deep enough to see this project through, almost regardless of the delays and the spiraling costs.  I almost think the news release is a prank.

But here it is:

“NuScale Power, a company in Portland, Ore., said it lacked enough subscribers to advance the Carbon-Free Power Project, which had been expected to deliver six of the company’s 77-megawatt reactors. Although more than two dozen utilities had signed up to buy electricity from the reactors, which would be in Idaho, that number fell short of what NuScale said it needed to move forward.”

As late as late October, there were reports from Nuscale that

“The company this week announced plans to develop two facilities backed by nearly 2GW of energy from 24 small modular reactors (SMRs).”

There are plenty of lawyers wondering about that statement.

The Idaho plant was estimated to be up and running in 2029.

Nuscale blames a variety of issues:

“… among other things, the severity and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and actions by governments, businesses and individuals in response to the pandemic, including the duration and severity of economic disruptions;”

“…cost overruns, project delays or other problems arising from project execution activities, including the failure to meet cost and schedule estimates;”

“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, public health crises, political crises or other catastrophic events;”

A great many more factors were cited, though, apparently, none the fault of Nuscale.

One has to wonder: Did anything go right, ever, with this project?

“NuScale’s stock price fell more than 20 percent, to $2.37, in after-hours trading. Its value has declined more than 70 percent in the past 12 months.”

It turns out it wasn´t even close:

“NuScale had needed to triple the number of customers for the Carbon-Free Power Project by February.

I cannot see that this failure will spell the end of efforts to develop and market SMRs., at least in the US.  But it should serve as a warning to those who try.