Irl Scissors, Executive Director, MBEF interview with Robin Rickman, SMR Program Director, Westinghouse, March 13, 2014
Nuclear supporters in Missouri were surprised by a recent media report from a Pittsburgh newspaper that carried a headline saying Westinghouse has backed off its SMR program. What does that mean? What is the status of your SMR program?
Irl, before I respond to your questions, let me take this opportunity to thank you and your MBEF members for your support of Westinghouse and our SMR program. We’ve been so fortunate to receive the endorsement and encouragement that’s come from elected officials in Jefferson City and around the state as we submitted proposals for funding to the Department of Energy. The disappointing outcome of the award decisions has not deterred us from continuing to work with the state economic development alliance on the Make it in America grant, the Missouri SMR Consortium, and the Missouri Charge marketing coalition. I assure you that Westinghouse remains committed to Missouri just as we remain committed to our SMR program.
To your question: When Westinghouse did not receive U.S. Department of Energy funding for the continued development of SMR technology, Westinghouse made the decision to re-prioritize its SMR resources to areas with greater near-term economic potential and redirected our resources into established markets with well-defined and significant customer needs. The SMR program remains an important part of the Westinghouse portfolio. To ensure that our interests and experience are represented in order that we can respond quickly when the time comes, we’ve retained a core group of Westinghouse engineers and business staff who remains assigned and committed to the SMR program. This will ensure the Westinghouse SMR product investment is protected and available for additional investment and licensing completion when market conditions warrant.
Was this reorganization related to the Department of Energy’s decision to not support the Westinghouse SMR with federal funding?
Westinghouse has invested millions of dollars and more than a decade developing small reactor technology and licensing fuel for commercial applications, all of which has culminated in our current small modular reactor design. That puts us way ahead of other U.S. competitors. We’ve said all along that DOE’s federal investment funds would help us accelerate our SMR development and provide a means to participate in the Congressional goals for a U.S. company to be the first-to-market with a license, in partnership with a U.S. utility. Much has changed in the domestic energy market during the recent past. Load growth is experiencing historic lows, while historically high domestic natural gas production offers low prices to the market. All this contributes to reducing utility market pull for small reactors.
The Westinghouse SMR design is developed to the point where it provides sufficient technical information and plant capabilities basis to thoroughly answer questions from potential customers, partners, suppliers, regulators and investors. Moreover, the SMR fuel design is complete and SMR fuel assemblies have been manufactured and tested satisfactorily. Our global market reach is unmatched and we will continue to gain company strength as our AP1000® nuclear plant business expands. We’ll be ready to capitalize on global SMR market opportunities when market conditions make small modular nuclear reactor technology more competitive. When this happens, we will be there, leading the industry again.
Missouri has a network of economic development and energy providers who are working on a federal Make it in America grant to make Missouri the hub of a global SMR industry. Federal agencies thought enough of Missouri’s efforts to support the development of a supply chain infrastructure so Missouri is ready for the time when the market supports book orders for a U.S. vendor. How does that factor into Westinghouse plans?
The economics that make the SMR attractive to utilities result from the standardized and simplified cost-informed innovations in safety systems, operation, and modular fabrication schemes. These same economic design elements are fundamental to the Westinghouse SMR design, which incorporates continuous and deliberate application of company experience to produce the most certainty in cost and licensing outcome. This cost-informed design approach, coupled with groundbreaking innovations in safety, will lead to the successful plant deployment that also will help meet national energy and economic development policy objectives.
The supply chain for this unique approach represents both a tremendous opportunity and also a lack of understanding on the part of the industry about how to stand up a supply system that can deliver the modular design. We are leading the industry with our mature and active global supply chain sourcing for the AP1000 plant. The Make it in America grant is a tremendous boost to the specifics of the SMR business. This grant effort focuses resources on development of industry infrastructure in Missouri that ensures competencies like advanced manufacturing and specialized engineering are ready to respond when an energy provider is ready to build the first SMRs.
What’s next for Westinghouse’s SMR program? How can we continue to support the birth of an SMR market?
In the short term, we will continue participating in industry conferences with our Missouri partners. The first such conference in 2014 was just held in February in Washington, DC, where the Make it in America team leader, Dave Schmidt, served on a panel at the day-long forum. We will also continue to work with the Missouri Charge to promote the Westinghouse SMR program at 2014 industry conferences scheduled for March, May, and October.
We continue to be a voice of leadership in various industry activities associated with the SMR. This includes for example, participating on the Nuclear Energy Institute’s SMR Working Group which strategically supports and provides direction on the small modular reactor licensing and regulatory activities to provide a unified approach and voice on Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rulemaking, guidance documents, processes, resources and schedules. The working group also provides executive coordination, direction and general oversight on NRC regulatory issues related to deployment of small modular reactors. There are other industry groups which we continue to remain engaged with including Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and others.
In the long term, we will continue to collaborate with Ameren Missouri and communicate actively with the NRC. In February, Westinghouse and Ameren co-signed and submitted a joint response to the 2014 Regulatory Information Summary request that was issued by the regulator in late 2013. In our response, we confirmed that both companies continue to view the SMR as an important technical advancement for the electric industry and a significant stimulant to future economic growth.
I say this everywhere I go, and I firmly believe this, Missourians for a Balanced Energy Future is unique among statewide member organizations as an effective voice of advocacy for safe, emissions-free, nuclear energy. Likewise, Missouri offers broad state government and public support of nuclear energy as a desirable part of a robust energy portfolio and economic investment. I trust your members will continue to voice their support for nuclear new build in Missouri.
