# NuScale Power A Portland, OR-based nuclear technology company and the only company with an NRC-approved small modular reactor (SMR) design in the United States. Founded in 2007 as a spinoff from Oregon State University research, NuScale developed the VOYGR power plant design — a light-water reactor using natural circulation that eliminates the need for reactor coolant pumps. The company trades on the NYSE under the ticker SMR. ## Regulatory Lead NuScale holds a unique position in the SMR industry: two NRC design approvals. The first came in 2020 (50 MWe module), and the second — for the uprated 77 MWe US460 design — was granted in May 2025, making VOYGR the most advanced SMR from a licensing standpoint in the United States. The NRC completed its technical review of the US460 ahead of schedule and under budget. ## The UAMPS Cautionary Tale Despite the regulatory lead, NuScale's flagship commercial project collapsed. The Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP), a joint venture with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) to build six 77 MWe reactors at Idaho National Laboratory, was terminated in November 2023 due to cost overruns. The project's target electricity price had ballooned from $55/MWh to $89/MWh, and UAMPS could not secure enough subscriber commitments to continue. The DOE's cost-share investment was reduced from $1.355B to approximately $50M. The gap between regulatory approval and commercial viability is the central tension of the SMR story — and NuScale is the case study. ## International Pivot With the domestic flagship dead, NuScale has pivoted to international markets. Active deployments and partnerships include Romania (RoPower Nuclear, a 462 MWe plant at the Doicesti Power Station with the Romanian government approving the investment decision in February 2026), South Korea (collaboration with Doosan Enerbility and Samsung C&T on a potential plant in the Uljin region), and discussions with the Tennessee Valley Authority and ENTRA1 domestically. ## KB Relevance NuScale matters to [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]] as a test case for whether SMRs can actually deliver on their promise of scalable, dispatchable carbon-free power for data centers and AI workloads. The UAMPS cancellation is a cautionary tale about the distance between regulatory milestones and commercial deployment — a gap that competing technologies like solid oxide fuel cells and natural gas turbines are filling in the meantime. ## See Also - [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]] - [[Artificial Intelligence]]