NuScale Power signed a memorandum of understanding with Ontario Power Generation Inc., which will support NuScale and its small modular reactor (SMR) power plant as part of a vendor design review with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Ontario Power will offer expertise to support NuScale’s design review application currently under development. It also will further evaluate the development, licensing and possible deployment of a NuScale reactor in Canada.

NuScale's modular light water reactor is intended to supply energy for electrical generation, district heating, desalination and process heat applications. The SMR design includes a factory-fabricated power module capable of generating 60 MW of electricity. The SMR is intended to be scalable, meaning that a power plant can include up to 12 individual power modules. NuScale's majority investor is Fluor Corp., a global engineering, procurement and construction company.

NuScale is working on an agreement to submit a design application for review by the Canadian regulatory body. The design review is intended to ensure that the nuclear power plant design meets Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations as well as Canadian codes and standards.

After the service agreement is signed, NuScale and the regulatory authority will develop a plan for the content and timing of required paperwork.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to complete NuScale’s design certification application in September 2020. NuScale’s likely first customer, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, could deploy an SMR in the mid-2020s.

In September, NuScale selected Virginia-based BWX Technologies to start the engineering work on the SMR. The decision followed an 18-month selection process, with expressed interest from 83 companies based in 10 countries.

NuScale will contract for two other manufacturing phases — preparation for fabrication then fabrication — at a later date. BWX Technologies is a leading supplier of nuclear components and fuel to both the U.S. government and the commercial nuclear power industry. It expects to use Pennsylvania-based Precision Custom Components as a component manufacturing contractor on this project.