U.S. Department of Energy Launches $900 Million Funding Program for Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Projects
Grants are offered at two levels
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has opened applications for $900 million in funding to support the domestic implementation of small modular reactor (SMR) technologies.
The funding aims to support the private sector in establishing a path to deploy a Gen III+ SMR fleet across the country. “Next-generation nuclear energy will play an important role in building the clean energy sector of the future,” said John Podesta, senior adviser to the president on international climate policy.
The first will be for pioneering support of the team, administered by the Clean Energy Demonstrations Office. This tier will provide up to $800 million in milestone awards to support up to two pioneering teams of utilities, reactor suppliers, manufacturers, and purchasers committed to implementing a first plant while facilitating a multi-reactor Gen SMR III+ order book.
The first tier is expected to include a utility, reactor technology supplier, U.S. engineering, procurement, and construction company, and the utility, end-user/purchaser, developer, or consortium formed as the lead applicant. The second tier will support the implementation of rapid tracking systems, managed by the Office of Nuclear Energy. This tier will provide up to $100 million to spur the implementation of new Generation III+ SMRs by addressing critical gaps that have hindered the domestic nuclear industry in design, licensing, supplier development, and site preparation. Tier 2 funding falls into three categories. Applicants must be owners of planned projects, utilities, or entities seeking to improve the capacity or cost competitiveness of the domestic supply chain for GenIII+ SMRs.
Applications are due by January 17, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET SMRs and the Data Center Industry
The Department of Energy has estimated that the United States will need between 700 and 900 GW of low-carbon power generation to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Nuclear power is a key part of the U.S. energy mix and will account for nearly half of its carbon-free power by 2023. However, unlike traditional nuclear power, SMRs offer potential for deployment and flexibility across a variety of industries due to their ability to adapt to loads and adjust to demand. This is particularly evident in the data center industry, which has signed several high-profile supply agreements with SMR developers to power its operations. In 2024, hyperscalers AWS and Google signed agreements to implement SMR to power their data centers.
More recently, in October, AWS signed a series of agreements in the United States to implement SMR across its operations. This included an agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of state-owned utilities that will enable the development of four advanced SMR reactors.
In addition to this agreement, it has also made a direct investment in X-energy, a developer of SMR reactors and fuels. X-energy’s reactor design will be used in Energy Northwest’s projects. Finally, in Virginia, it signed an agreement with utility Dominion Energy to explore the development of a small modular reactor (SMR) project near the Dominion North Anna nuclear power plant.
A few days before AWS’s announcement, Google reported that it had signed an enterprise agreement to purchase nuclear power from multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) from Kairos Power. Kairos plans to deploy the first SMR in 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035. The exclusive agreement for the United States covers up to 500 MW in six or seven reactors. Due to their need for constant 24/7 power, data centers are adapting to the power profile of SMRs, which has led to a boom in interest. As a result, data center operators are increasingly seeing SMRs as a potential panacea for their needs while still achieving net-zero emissions goals. However, despite widespread enthusiasm among data center operators, SMRs remain an unproven technology that faces significant regulatory hurdles and scalability issues.
